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THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES 
l 




THE CAPITOL 



THE 



ROMAN CAPITOL 



ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES 



THE CITADEL— THE TEMPLES— THE SENATORIAL 

PALACE— THE PALACE OF THE CONSERVATORS— 

THE MUSEUM 



E. RODOCANACHI 

Translated from the French by 

FREDERICK LAWTON, M.A. 



With Fifty I (lustrations and a Map 




NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON h COMPANY 
1906 



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Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, 

bread street hill, e.c., and 

bungay, suffolk; 



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CONTENTS 



THE CAPITOL IN ANTIQUITY. 

PAGE 

Periods of the Monarchy and the Republic ..... I 

Imperial Period ... . 14 

Topography of the Capitol. Approaches to it . . . . 17 

The Arx 20 

The Asylum — The Tabularium 23 

The Capitol — The Area Capitolina 28 

The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus 29 

The other Edifices of the Capitol 43 

Decay and Ruin of the Capitol 52 

TPIE CAPITOL IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Legends 56 

THE CAPITOL FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE 
THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

Progressive Formation of the Senatorial Palace .... 64 

The Carroccio . 70 

The Market 70 

THE CAPITOL IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

Transformation of the Senatorial Palace j6 

The Lions of the Capitol 79 

Poetical Coronations in the Capitol. Petrarch .... 82 

Allegorical Representations painted on the walls of the Capitol . 85 

Festivities held in the Capitol in the fourteenth century . . Sy 

THE CAPITOL IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

Transformation of the Senatorial Palace 88 

Palace of the Conservators 93 

Pictorial Representations of the Capitol in the fourteenth and 

fifteenth centuries 97 

The Tabularium 100 

Prisons of the Capitol .106 

The Tarpeian Mount or Monte Caprino 107 

Executions in the Capitoline Palace 112 

The Custody of the Capitol 114 

Festivities held in the Capitol in the fifteenth century . . . 117 

Episodes 118 

Aurelia Extricata 119 



vi CONTENTS 

THE MODERN CAPITOL. 

THE CAPITOL IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

Transformation of the Palaces I2 ? 

First Period . \ I2 ^ 

Michael Angelo's Project \ \ I2 y 

Tower called the Tower of Martin V. . . , ' ' .120 
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius . . . . ] ! 1 ^ I 
Completion of the Square ......] i^ 

Completion of the two Palaces [ I4 g 

Hall and Throne of the Senator [ I rq i 

Interior Decoration of the Palace of the Conservators . '. ] 155 
The Prisons of the Capitol in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 160 

Executions in the sixteenth century j65 

Consular Tribunals z 5g 

Honorific Statues .... ■ I7I 

The Popes at the Capitol ' \ l74 

Festivities held in the Capitol in the sixteenth century \ [ ! 1 74 

People's Printing- House ] I7 q 

THE CAPITOL IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

The Palaces x g^ 

Honorific Statues erected in the seventeenth century . . 188 

The Popes at the Capitol .' .' 190 

The taking-possession of the Capitol by the Senators . .' [ 192 
Festivities held in the Capitol in the seventeenth century . .195 
Formation of the Capitoline Museums. Origin . . . .197 

Classification of the Collections ....... 200 

The new Museum, called the Museum of the Capitol .' 215 

THE CAPITOL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

The keeping of the Palaces in repair 222 

The Clock of the Roman People .' .225 

Festivities held in the Capitol in the eighteenth century. ' The 

Academies 228 

Poetical Coronations in the Capitol (Perfetti ; Corilla) ". '. '. 231 
Inscriptions commemorating the visits of celebrated personages 

to the Capitol ... 2 -S 

The"Loto" . * * 

z o9 

APPENDIX. 

The Church of Santa Maria Aracoeli 241 

Bibliography . . . .247 

Alphabetical Index 2 ;i 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Capitol Frontispiece. 

Topography of the Ancient Capitol, according to the arbitrary 

Reconstitution of Nardini {Roma antica) 10 

Nero's Arch (Nero's Coinage) 25 

Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of M. Volteius) 57 

Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of Petillius Capitolinus) . 39 
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of Petillius Capitolinus) . 41 
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of Domitian) ... 42 

Temple of Mars Ultor (Coins of Augustus) 46 

Temple of Mars Ultor (Coins of Augustus 47 

Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of Vespasian) ... 50 
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Coins of Vespasian) . . . 51 
The Capitoline Mount, after Canina .... -53 
Fragment of the Plan contained in the Cod. Vat. 1906 (thir- 
teenth century) 67 

The Capitol seen from the Forum in the fifteenth century. 
Reconstitution of Mark Sadler. ( Vestigi delle Antichita di 

Roma, pi. I.) 73 

Group of the Lion and the Horse before its Restoration. (De 
Cavaleriis, Antiq. Stat. Urbis Romae Liber, Rome, 1746, 

pi. 79) . ■ 81 

The Roman She- Wolf, figured on an ancient medal ... 94 
The Bronze She-Wolf of the Capitol. (From an engraving in 

the Cabinet of Prints) 95 

The Roman She-Wolf, figured on an ancient medal • • • 97 
Fragment of the Redi Plan of Rome, contained in the Cod. 

Laur. Red. 77 . . 98 

Fragment of the Plan of Rome contained in the MS. of the 

French Nat. Lib., Fonds Latin 4802 ' 99 

Doorway of Sixtus IV. .103 

Door of the Tabularium 105 

The Tarpeian Mount and the Siloes. Heemskerck's Design 

(according to the Buttettino Archeologico) 1 1 1 

The Capitoline Mount, about the year 1552. (Engraving taken 

from Ligorio's Plan) 115 

Basement Portion of the Tower of Martin V. . . . 1 29 

Statue of Marcus Aurelius 133 

The Horse of Marcus Aurelius in front of the Lateran. 
(Ciampini, De Sacris Aedijiciis a Constantino Magno con- 
structis : Rome, 1693, HI? x 7> pi- 5) . .... 137 

Statue of Marcus Aurelius in front of the Lateran. (Fresco of 

Filippo Lippi, Church of Minerva) 139 



viii LIS T OF ILL US TRA TIONS 

PAGE 

Vignola's Portico. Steps leading to the Church of S. Maria 

Aracoeli 143 

Vignola's Portico. Steps leading to the Monte Tarpeio , . 145 

The Dioscuri. Ceremony of the Blessing of the Bambino . 147 
Medal struck to commemorate the Erection of the Campanile 

or Bell-Tower 151 

Medal struck to commemorate the Erection of the Campanile . 153 
The Capitoline Palaces. (From an engraving of the Cabinet of 

Prints) . . 157 

The Capitol at the end of the sixteenth century . . . .163 

Senatorial Palace. (Falda's engraving) 165 

The Palace of the Conservators. (Falda's engraving) . . .167 

The Capitol. (From an engraving of the Cabinet of Prints) . 169 

The Capitol seen from the Forum 177 

Engraving taken from the work of Marlianus 185 

The Capitol and Church of S. Maria Aracoeli. (From an 

engraving of the Cabinet of Prints) 191 

Inner Courtyard of the Palace of the Conservators . . .201 

The Marzio or Thorn-drawer 203 

Marforio (before its restoration) 211 

Engraving taken from the Cose Maravigliose deW alma Citta 

di Roma, Rome, 1595 227 

Planting of the Tree of Liberty on the Square of the Capitol 

in 1798 229 

Perfetti 232 

CoriJla 235 

Church of S. Maria Aracoeli. The Clock of the Roman People. 

(P. Totti, Ritratto di Roma -Moderna, 1657, p. 408) . . 243 
49. — S. Maria Aracoeli. (German engraving of the beginning 

of the century) ......... 245 



A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL. 



BEFORE entering on the history and describing the successive 
aspects of the Capitoline buildings, it is advisable that a descrip- 
tion should be given of the present state of the site and of the 
three palaces surrounding it, and that the things most worthy 
of attention should be indicated for the benefit of intending 
visitors. 

Site of the Capitol a?id Means of Access. — The monumental 
staircase by which access is obtained to the Capitol from the 
Piazza Aracoeli is the work of the architect Giacomodella Porta, 
who contributed largely to the completion of the Capitoline 
Palaces. It was begun in the year 1577, and was quickly 
finished (p. 142). The two sphinxes visible at the bottom, 
on either side, are the reproduction of those placed there by 
Pius IV. ; the latter were discovered near the Church of Santa 
Maria supra Minerva ; and, at present, are in the courtyard of 
the new palace (that on the left), on each side of the statue of 
Marforio. The substitution was made in 1885. 

The small triangular garden which is on the left of the stair- 
case, between it and another staircase leading to the Aracoeli 
Church, was a mere rubbish heap, prior to 1818. Now, it con- 
tains a mediocre statue by Mazini, representing the tribune Cola 
di Rienzo, and, a little higher, a cage with she-wolves. In 
times gone by, the Romans kept a lion in the Capitol (p. 79). 
On the right of the staircase, is a slope with four windings, by 
which carriages ascend to the Square ; it bears the name of Via 
delta Tre Pile, on account of the three "Pignates " or pots that 
figure in the armorial bearings of Pope Innocent XII., the 
creator of this road, and which are represented on a somewhat 
high pillar standing at the third turn (p. 148). 

The two groups of the Dioscuri which adorn the top of the stair- 
case were placed at this spot by the care of Pope Gregory XIII., 
in 1583. They had been discovered some twenty years 



x A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL 

previously in the Ghetto ; and Valsoido had restored them. 
When Michael Angelo, in 1535, planned the transformation of 
the Capitol, on the occasion of the coming of the Emperor 
Charles V., he proposed to rarrange two groups at this place, 
but lengthwise and facing each other (p. 129). 

The balustrade that borders the Square was finished in 1592. 
On it were placed, in 1590, the trophies bearing the name of 
Marius, which are still to be seen there ; they come from the 
" Acqua Marcia" castle situated on the Esquilian (p. 146). At 
one of the ends of the balustrade (Cordonata), was erected, 
about the same date, the milestone marking the first mile of 
the Appian Way, where it had been discovered in 1583. 
Another milestone, found a little farther on, was erected near 
it. Formerly, they were each surmounted by a ball (p. 146). 
The two statues of Constantine and his son Constans, which 
stand between the trophies and the pillars, were brought to 
this place only in 1653 ; prior to this date, they were on the' 
steps leading from the Square of the Capitol to the Aracoeli 
Church. The base of Constantine's statue is still standing at 
the same spot ; it forms the corner of the staircase, and his 
name may be seen engraven on it. A third statue representing 
the Emperor's second son used to stand there also ; but it was 
subsequently removed to the Museum of the Capitol ; and is 
now at the Lateran, whither Pope Clement XII. had it trans- 
ported in 1737. These three statues had been discovered in 
the Thermae of Constantine (pp. 146, 204). 

Constantine^s Horse. — In the centre of the Square, which, 
until the year 1477, was used as a market, has stood since 1538 
the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was primitively 
erected in the Forum, and was later removed, some time 
before the ninth century, to a position in front of the Lateran 
basilica. For a long while, it was supposed to represent the 
Emperor Constantine ; and on its preservation was believed to de- 
pend the city's welfare. This belief sufficed to guarantee it from 
destruction. The statue is one of the finest bronze monuments 
that have come down to us. " All other bronze horses must be 
the humble servitors of this one," said the president De Brosses, 
in the eighteenth century. Some people assert that, if the 
spectator will put himself in front of the horse, and slightly to 
the left, he will think he sees an owl formed by the ears and a 
tuft of the mane ; it is to this illusion, no doubt, that must be 
attributed the strange legend related about the statue (p. 132). 
The idea of decorating the Square of the Capitol with it was 
originally conceived by Michael Angelo ; and it was the only 
part of his programme which was carried out in his lifetime. 



A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL xi 

Thorwaldsen and the French architect Valadier partially 
restored it in 1836. The huge block that serves as its pedestal 
came from Trajan's Forum. In the seventeenth century, 
Constantine's horse had its special guardian (p. 140). 

The steps and the portico, giving access, on the one side, to 
the Tarpeian Mount and, on the other, to the Santa Maria 
Aracoeli Church, are by Vignola (p. 143). 

Seiiatorial Palace. — The central palace is the one in which the 
Senator, a magistrate, usually not an inhabitant of the City,, 
rendered civil and criminal justice. It stands on the site 
occupied, in the Middle Ages, by the stronghold in which the 
representatives of the people used to assemble, and which Pope 
Lucius II. tried to storm, but in vain, in 1145 (p. 167). 

Facade. — The present facade was built by Girolamo Rinaldi 
from the designs of Michael Angelo and Giacomo della Porta r 
it was completed under the pontifical reign of Clement VIII.,, 
between 1592 and 1605. It was superposed on the ancient struc- 
ture ; and the joining of the old and new parts is clearly dis- 
tinguishable on each side (p. 1 52). The double staircase leading to 
the principal entrance dates back to 1582. The fountain beneath 
was finished in 1588, not without lively discussions between the 
Pope, who had proposed the plan for it, and the Communal 
Council, which demanded a pledge that water would be supplied 
to it. As a matter of fact, the water supply was laid on only 
thirty years later, in 16 19 (p. 152). 

The two groups of statuary ornamenting this fountain were a 
present from Pope Leo X. ; they appear to date back to the time 
of the Antonines, and came from the temple of Serapis, which 
was situated on the Quirinal. It was in 15 17 that they were 
transferred to the Capitol. One of the figures at first represented 
the Tigris ; the tiger at its side was replaced by a she-wolf, 
which transformed the group into a personification of the Tiber. 

The other represents the Nile. Before being employed to 
ornament the facade of the Senatorial palace, the two groups 
stood at the foot of the palace of the Conservators (p. 125). The 
red basalt statue in the centre of the fountain was a Minerva : 
it was made into a representation of Rome, and was placed at 
this spot, where a larger statue had previously stood. In 16 14, 
it was partially restored ; in 1653 an arm, two fingers, and the 
nose were renovated : later, the renovation was extended to the 
other arm and nearly the whole of the body (p. 152). 

On the facade, in the lower part of the first story, are marble 
tablets celebrating the taking of Rome, and bearing the names 
of the soldiers that perished on this occasion, September the 



xii A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL 

20th, 1870. The bottom ones replace windows through one of 
which, the underneath one on the right, prisoners shut up in the 
Capitol used to solicit charity from the passers-by (p. 164). 

The windows of the first story, constructed in 1593, give light 
to the large Audience-Chamber. On the right and left of the 
main entrance are the people's armorial bearings and those of 
the kingdom of Italy ; higher up, is an inscription to the glory 
of Clement VIII. (1592-1605). 

Campanile. — The Campanile as planned by Michael Angelo 
was not very lofty. The present one has three stories ; being com- 
menced in 1578 by Martino Lunghi, whose design was selected 
from a number of others, it was completed in two years. The 
name of the reigning Pope, Gregory XIII., may be seen engraven 
at the top on the four sides. The statue surmounting it was re- 
moved during the pontificate of Sixtus V., who objected to an idol- 
atrous image figuring above the bells (1585) (p. 151). The clock 
that adorns the Campanile was added in 1804, by the order of 
the Communal Council ; it cost two hundred and fifty crowns 
(p. 228). 

From the top of the Campanile, a magnificent view is enjoyed 
over the city and the Fvoman Campagna. 

Eastern Facade. — The eastern facade, overlooking the narrow 
street that leads to the Arch of Septimus Severus (Via dell' Arco 
di Settimio), is the most interesting part of the edifice ; near the 
Square stands the Tower of Martin V., so called because this 
Pope had it restored in 1427. In the lower portion can be seen, 
towards the right and above, near the edge of the Tower, the 
armorial bearings of the Senator, Nicolo Tolosano (1544- 1545) ; 
beneath, those of the family Gualdi, flanked with two inscriptions 
recording the names of Galleotto and his son Francesco, Roman 
Senators in 15 10 and in 1530 ; still further down, on the left, an 
inscription recording the works carried out in the Senatorial 
Palace by Pope Innocent XII. (1692) ; the four pendentives 
beneath contain the armorial bearings of the three Conservators, 
and those of the prior of the Caporioni in office, at the time when 
the commemorative tablet was set up ; more on the left, is a series 
of bass-reliefs, one of which was supposed to represent the effigy 
of Scipio Africanus ; rather higher, and by themselves, are the 
armorial bearings of the Senator Giacomo Bovio (15 14), crowned 
with a fleur-de-lys (p. 129). 

Underneath, a door opens which, at present, gives access to a 
small terrace ; it was once on a level with the ground, and served 
as an entrance to the salt repository, which was in the Tabu- 
larium. It is called the door of Sixtus IV. ; for it was built 



A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL xiii 

under his pontificate, in 1477. On it are engraven his armorial 
bearings, the oak of the Bella Rover e ; those of the people are 
on the left, those of Cardinal d'Estouteville, the Camerlingo, 
on the right. In the frieze are three small escutcheons ; those 
at the ends are surmounted by a swine, forming the armorial 
bearings of the Porcari family, one of whose members, Bernardo 
Porcio, was at that period in command of a Quarter of the City. 
The attribution of the centre escutcheon is uncertain (pp. 102, 223). 
The angle of this facade, and of the southern one, is formed 
by the Tower of Nicolas V. ; on it are seen his armorial bear- 
ings, close to the summit, beside those of Pope Innocent VIII. 
and of Cardinal Cibo, his nephew, placed a little lower (p. 91). 

Southern Facade. — The facade fronting the Forum is composed 
of two entirely distinct portions — the lower one being the ancient 
Tabularium, sole remains of the Roman buildings that stood on 
the Capitoline Hill ; and the upper one, no doubt, dating back 
only to the seventeenth century. The Tabularium was employed 
as a repository for public documents. In the Middle Ages, it 
was transformed into a salt repository. Its partition walls, indeed, 
were so eaten away by this latter employment of it that, in 1604 
and in 1612, important sums of money had to be spent in 
strengthening the foundations, since the whole structure, especi- 
ally the Audience-Chamber, was in danger of falling in (p. 183). 
The stones composing the existing portion of the Tabularium 
are of peperino, and measure rather more than a yard in length; 
the wall is four yards thick. The windows overlooking the 
Forum were, during the Middle Ages, on a level with the ground. 
One of them, on the right, had even been enlarged so as to serve 
for a door, through which beasts of burden brought the bags of 
salt that had been unloaded on the banks of the Tiber (p. 104). 

A long corridor runs right along the Tabularium, and conducts 
to the door of Sixtus IV., already mentioned, the door now 
built up. A staircase connects this passage with the upper 
floor. Formerly, the Tabularium had an extra story, which was 
razed at the time of the barbarian invasions. It is from the 
Tabularium that access is gained, by means of a flight of stairs, 
to the upper floor of the building. In the wall of the staircase, 
standards of lineal measurement were inserted, and also an 
inscription commemorating the gift made by the Emperor 
Frederick II. of the war-chariot — the carroccio of the Milanese 
— taken by him at the battle of Cortenuova, in 1237 (p. 70). 

Western Facade. — Entrance to the Tabularium is obtained by 
a lofty square door on the western side of the Capitol, in the 
Via Capitolina (p. 105). A little higher up, between the two 



xiv A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL 

towers bearing the name of Boniface IX. (p. 78), is the door of 
the Town services, which are established in the modern portions 
of the buildings ; it used to be the entrance to the prisons. 
Executions were carried out either in front of the palace, on the 
Square of the Capitol, or on the gibbet erected at the top of the 
Tarpeian Mount. The Senator was bound to witness them 
from the window of the Tower, forming the angle of the western 
and northern facades (pp. 88, 107;. 

Interior of the Senatorial Palace. — The interior of the Sena- 
torial Palace, into which, indeed, it is somewhat difficult to 
enter, is not very interesting. It contains scarcely anything 
worthy of remark, except the large hall in which the Senator 
held his court of justice, and which served for ceremonies, the 
conferring of poetical wreaths or crowns, receptions of important 
personages, the installation of new magistrates. The names of 
Sixtus V. and Paul V., who made the alterations giving it its 
present appearance, are inscribed on the lintels of the two chief 
doors (p. 155). Into the walls have been let fragments of 
frescoes found in the foundations of the palace, and a represen- 
tation of the Madonna much venerated in the Middle Ages ; this 
latter had been discovered underneath the principal inside stair- 
case (pp. 92, 224). In a contiguous room are the standards of the 
ancient Quarters of Rome, decorated with their coats of arms. 

Palace of the Conservators. — On the right of the Square stands 
the palace of the Conservators. Begun before the end of the 
fourteenth century, at a time when the Conservators, who had 
succeeded to the Bannerets, were in a fair way to become the 
effective representatives of the people, it assumed more and 
more importance as their power increased. However, it was 
not completed until the end of the sixteenth century, under 
the direction of the architect Giovanni del Duca. For the 
ancient arcades, which used to open on the Square and the 
inner courtyard, where traces of them may still be found, del 
Duca, in accordance with Michael Angelo's plan, substituted 
the cold-looking colonnade that one sees there now. The only 
modification he made in the master's design was to enlarge the 
middle window, a change for which he has been justly blamed. 
The inscriptions that may be read above some of the doors, as 
well as in the narrow street that skirts the palace and leads to 
the Tarpeian Mount, refer to the Corporations, whose consuls 
used to sit formerly as judges in the chambers of the ground- 
floor (p. 168). 

In this palace are the Capitoline Archives (at the further end 
of the courtyard) and a portion of the museum. The decoration 
of the large hall was made by the Chevalier of Arpino, that of 



A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL xv 

the square room contiguous to it by Tommaso Laureti, that of 
the corner room by Ripanda ; the other decorations are attri- 
buted to Daniele da Volterra, Carrache, and Perugino (p. 155). 

New Palace. — The palace facing that of the Conservators was 
not undertaken until long after the completion of the first. 
Commenced in 1644, the outside portion was finished in 1655, 
under the direction of Carlo Rinaldi. As the Communal treasury 
was empty, it was found necessary, in order to procure the 
funds required for the building, to suppress the salaries of most 
of the Municipal functionaries, including even those of the 
schoolmasters. In the courtyard below the Aracoeli Church, 
are inscriptions recording the aid contributed by Innocent X. to 
its completion (p. 185). 

Museums. — Properly speaking, the origin of the Capitoline 
museums goes back to the pontificate of Pope Sixtus IV, who, 
m 1 47 1, gave to the people several of the objects that are still 
among the most precious of the collection, together with others, 
for instance, the bronze She-Wolf, the gilded Hercules, a 
Camillus, a colossal head of Nero. Already, about 1509, the 
museum, which had been placed in the palace of the Con- 
servators, contained numerous statues, inscriptions, and frag- 
ments ; and the Communal Council endeavoured either by 
purchase or exchange, and sometimes by means of fines, to 
increase its riches (p. 205). 

About the end of the sixteenth century some attempt was 
made to arrange the collections. In or near 1700 the com- 
pletion of the new palace was taken advantage of to transfer 
to it part of the objects that were heaped up in disorder in the 
rooms of the ancient palace. Benedict XIII., and more espe- 
cially Clement XII., enriched the museums with considerable 
donations ; and Benedict XIV. it was who created in 1749 tne 
picture gallery, which, to tell the truth, is but of small value 
compared to the other Roman collections (p. 221). 

Collections of the Palace of the Conservators. — The collections 
of the palace of the Conservators, the arrangement of which 
has just been thoroughly overhauled, and which are not yet 
definitely classified, comprise the objects which were the nucleus 
of the collections. The She-Wolf is in one of the rooms on the 
first floor — the square room decorated by Laureti. The geese, 
or rather bronze ducks, bought in the sixteenth century, are in 
one of the small side rooms. The Marzio, or Thorn-drawer, is in 
the last room on the left, at the end of the passage leading to the 
higher courtyard. In the same room there is a colossal bronze 
head, and, beside it, a tensa. On the second floor is the gilded 



xvi A VISIT TO THE CAPITOL 

Hercules ; it stands at the end of the corridor, together with 
the Camillus ; moreover, mosaics have been recently placed 
there, with ancient frescoes and bronzes. The Consular Tables 
are on the first floor, in the room beyond the one decorated by 
Ripanda. On the staircase have been placed bass-reliefs taken 
from the S. Martina Church. In the courtyard have remained 
fragments of colossal statues, head, fingers, and feet, belonging 
in part to a figure of Augustus. There, also, beside the door 
leading to the Archives, may be seen a large, rectangular vase 
in granite, which once contained the ashes of the first Agrippina, 
wife to Germanicus, who died in exile ; this vase was employed, 
in the Middle Ages, as a corn measure. On one of its faces 
there is a representation of a soldier of the Roman militia 
(p. 197). At the further end of the courtyard are two large 
statues of slaves in grey marble (p. 216). In the higher court- 
yard, the plan of Rome, Forma Urbis, partially reconstituted, 
owing to the intelligent efforts of the Comm. Lanciani (p. 219), 
covers the whole of one wall. At the back is the famous group 
of a lion devouring a horse, which has been restored with but 
poor effect. In the Middle Ages, criminals used to be placed 
on the horse, which, at that period, occupied a site in front of 
the Senatorial palace (p. 80). 

Collections of the New Palace. — In the courtyard of the new 
palace, at the further end, may be seen the Marforio, a statue 
representing a river, the Rhine, no doubt, under the features of 
Jupiter ; at one time it was in a street at the foot of the Capitol, 
and was used for pasting up the replies to the epigrams of 
Pasquin. In 1592, it was about to be removed to the Navona 
Square, when the Communal Council claimed it " to serve as a 
river-god above the fountain." It was transferred to the spot it 
now occupies in the year 1 737. Bescape restored it at the time of 
its removal to the Capitol. In the gallery and rooms on the ground 
floor there are two cynocephali (p. 205), and some Egyptian 
statues, part of which came from Hadrian's villa (p. 219). On 
the first floor are the Dying Gladiator ; the Table containing 
the Lex Regia, which served the tribune, Cola di Rienzo, as a 
text, when urging the Romans to shake off the yoke of the 
nobles ; the Satyr, in red marble ; a wounded Amazon ; the 
Infant Hercules, and the Faun ; the busts of the Philosophers, 
and those of the Emperors, in two special rooms ; these had 
been collected by Cardinal Alexander Albani, and were given 
to the museum in 1733, after his death, by Pope Clement 
XII. The room of the Doves is so called on account of a 
mosaic remarkable for its fineness (p. 220). In the passage, 
in a sort of alcove, is the Venus (p. 219). 



THE CAPITOL IN ANTIQUITY 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

ANCIENT AND MODERN 

THE CAPITOL IN ANTIQUITY 

Periods of the Monarchy and the Republic, 

The semicircle of hills forming the nucleus of historic Rome 
which converge round the hollow of the Forum (the Palatine, 
towards the south ; the Velian, Esquilian, Viminal, Quirinal, 
towards the east and north-east) is closed in, towards the 
north-west, by a steep hill of volcanic tufa, the Capitol. The 
Capitol separates from each other two plains of very unequal 
size : to the north, the plain bordering on the Tiber, the Campus 
Martius ; to the south, the Forum Boarium with its adjacent 
land of the Velabrum and the Forum, leaving between them 
only two narrow passages : the one to the south-west, about 
two hundred yards wide, along the river ; the other, at its 
north-eastern extremity, in the vicinity of the Quirinal. 

1 Primitively, the Capitoline hill was not, as it is to-day, a 
height isolated on all sides. It was joined to the Quirinal, of 
which it formed a prolongation, by a rocky saddle about 
a hundred and ninety-six yards long and thirty-three yards high. 
This saddle, which existed throughout the period of the 
Republic, disappeared at the beginning of the second cen- 
tury A.D., when Trajan, in order to establish a direct connection 
between the Forum and the Campus Martius, levelled the 
natural soil and built, at a lower level, the Forum that bears 
his name. 2 

1 M. L. Homo, formerly of the French School in Rome, has very kindly 
revised this first part. 

2 Dion Cass., LXVIII. 16. Cf. inscription on Trajan's column, C. I. L. , VI. 
960. 

B 2 



4 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The Capitoline hill, which is about five hundred yards long 
from north-east to south-west, and two hundred yards broad, in 
its widest part, comprises two summits connected by a saddle 
fairly similar to the one formerly linking together the Capitol 
and the Quirinal. The northern summit, the ancient Arx, is at 
once the highest part (rather more than fifty yards, at the site 
of the present Church of S. Maria in Aracoeli) and that which 
has the smallest area (eight thousand eight hundred to nine 
thousand nine hundred square yards) ; the southern summit, 
the Capitol properly so called, of slightly less altitude (fifty 
yards at the site of the Palazzo CarTarelli) possesses a con- 
siderably larger area (about sixteen thousand five hundred 
square yards). The saddle connecting the two summits, the 
ancient Asylum, has an altitude of forty-two yards at the site 
of the Piazza del Campidoglio ; its area is almost equal to that 
of the Arx. The whole of the Capitol, with its two culminating 
points (fifty-three and fifty yards), has a mean altitude of thirty- 
three yards above the Campus Martius to the north-west (height 
nineteen to twenty yards), and to the south-west above the 
hollow of the Velabrum (ancient level at the foot of the Janus 
Quadrifons, twelve yards) and the Forum (fourteen yards). 

The essential geographical characteristics of the Capitol, — to 
wit, its being naturally connected with the Quirinal, and, on the 
contrary, its being isolated from the Palatine, on account of the 
marshes of the Forum and the Velabrum ; its rising, on all sides, 
steeply above the surrounding plains ; and, last of all, its re- 
stricted area, which did not lend itself, as the table-lands of the 
Palatine, the Caelian, and the Quirinal did, to the establishment 
of considerable-sized colonies, — exercised a decisive influence 
on the history of the hill. 

The two portions of the Capitol seem to have, at first, had an 
independent history and development. Until the end of the 
monarchical period, there was no name which designated the 
whole of the hill. From the outset, the Arx appears to have 
depended on the Quirinal, and on the Sabine colony that was 
established there. The southern height primitively bore the 
name of the Mons Tarpeius. 1 It was occupied by a colony, 
probably of Latin origin, which, according to the legend, had 
been founded by Saturn, and, from the name of its founder, had 
taken the name of Saturnia. Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates 
that this denomination existed already in the time when a colony 

1 Varro, de Ling. Latin., V. 41: " Hie mons (the Capitol) ante Tarpeius 
dictus. . . ." Dionys. of Halic, III. 69: " Tdv vTrepKeC/xevov ttj? ayopaq X6<j>ov, 
b? Tore (X.6V e/caAetro Tapir^to?, vvv Se Ka7n.TCDA.ij/0s." Dion Cass., fragm. II. 8 : 
" 'O Tapir t'jtos A6(/>o? fxeTOJuo/xdaOr) Ka7riTcoA.11/os." Tit. Liv., I. 55, says similarly 
that the temple of Jupiter was built on the Mons Tarpeius. 



THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC 5 

of Grecians led by Hercules, like the Arcadian colony which 
under Evander's leadership had occupied the Palatine, came 
•and established themselves on the hill. 1 A few souvenirs 
of the ancient colony remained until a later period : the altar 
of Saturn, situated at the south-eastern extremity of the Forum, 
at the foot of the Capitol, near which was subsequently built a 
temple of the god ; the name of Saturnii borne by the inhabi- 
tants of the region, and that of Saturnia, primitively given to 
the Pandana Gate opening on the southern side of the Capitol 
and giving access to the Area Capitolina. 2 

The name, Capitolium, applied to the whole of the Capitoline 

1 hill, does not seem to be anterior to the end of the monarchical 

j epoch and the construction of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 

According to the legend first related by the historian Fabius 

1 Pictor, a human head (Caput) was discovered when the founda- 
tions of the temple were being dug ; and, to commemorate the 
. event, the name Capitolium 3 was given to the hill. The his- 
; - torical truth is simpler : the citadel peculiar to the Sabine 

2 colony of the Quirinal, which was situated on the northern 
i edge of the hill, already bore the name Capitolium. 4 When 
, the two colonies of the Palatine and the Quirinal amalgamated, 
I by virtue of a treaty which tradition refers to the two kings 

3 Romulus and Titus Tatius, the Capitoline hill became the 
I citadel, the military centre of the new City. At the end of the 
' monarchical epoch, under the Tarquins, at the time of the erec- 
tion of the temple of Jupiter, it became also the religious centre. 

.1 On these double grounds, it assumed the name Capitolium, 
which appears to have been from the commencement an official 
^ appellation. 

The name of Mons Tarpeius did not disappear ; but its use 

1 Dionys. of Halic, I. 34 : " A6<J>ov eniTtiSeiov evpovres . . . bg vvv juev Kct7rtTa>Au/os 
1 ovojaa^erat, virb 8e T(ov tot' avOpunruiv Xarovpi'LOS e\4yero." These new-comers must 

chiefly have been from the Peloponnesus: " Tooi/ 5' vTrokei^OivTOiv 01 /uei/ 7rAetovs 
I rjcrav UekonovvqaLOt, QeveaTai re /cat 'E7ret(ot ot e£ 'HAtScx?. . . ." Among them. 
I were also, according to legend, a certain number of Trojans (Dionys. of Halic, 

loc. cit.). 

2 Varro, de Ling. Latin., v. 42. Solin., I. 13 : " Castelli quoque quod excitaverunt 
porta7>i appellaverunt Saturniam quae postmodum Pandana vocitata est." 

3 Fabius Pictor, fragm. 12. Varro, de Ling. Latin., V. 41 :" Capitolium dictum 
quod hie cum fundamenta foderentur aedis Jovis caput humanum dicitur in- 

*ventum." Tit. Liv., I. 55: "Caput humanum integra facie aperientibus funda- 
vienta templi dicitur apparuisse ; quae visa species haud per ambages arcem earn 
\ imperii caputque rerum fore port endeb at." Dionys. of Halic, IV. 59-61 ; Plutarch, 
j Camill., XXVI. ; Dion Cass., fragm. II. 8. 

I 4 Varro, de Ling. Latin., V. 158 : " Clivus proximus a Flora susus(J) versus 
Capitolium Vetus, quod ibi sacellum Jovis, Junonis, Minervae, et id antiquius 
\quam aedis quae in Capitolio facta." This sanctuary, thenceforward, took the 
I name of Capitolium Vetus, in opposition to the new Capitol, and kept it till the end 
' of the Empire. Martial, V. 22; VI. 27; VII. 73. Notit., Reg. VI. Inscriptions: 
{Bull. Archeol. Com., 1887, p. 051. Ch. Huelsen, 1st Topog. Jahresber.^ Romisch. 
\Mitth., 1899, pp. 252-254; II er Top. Jakresber., id., 1891, pp. 103-104. 



6 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

was restricted, and no longer serving to designate the whole 
of the hill, it was applied only to the rocky spur of the Saxum 
Tarpeium or Rupes Tarpeia, the Tarpeian Rock. From the 
time of the Republic, the northern summit of the Capitol, which 
was the citadel properly so called, is generally designated 
under the name Arx, the southern height under the name 
Capitolium. 

In relation to the first nuclei of colonisation formed on the 
Roman soil, the situation of the Capitol was not central. The 
Roma Quadrata occupied only the Palatine and its immediate 
vicinity ; the seven-hilled city that succeeded it and into which, 
together with the two summits of the Palatine, the Cermalus and 
the Palatium, entered the Velian, the three brows of the Esquilian 
(Oppius, Cispius, Fagutal) and the valley of the Subura, did not 
include the Capitol. 

At a later date, as far as can be made out by primitive legends, 
the Capitol properly so called and the colony of Saturnia seem 
to have been joined on to the Latin colony of the Palatine, whilst 
the Arx belonged to the Sabines of the Quirinal. Tradition pre- 
served longer the memory of a house of the Sabine king 
Titus Tatius, situated on the Arx. 1 Romulus is said to have 
opened a place of refuge (asylum) in the hollow separating the 
two heights, and to have received numerous outlaws there ; 2 he 
is credited, too, with having surrounded the Capitol with a forti- 
fied wall. 3 Subsequently, as a commemoration of his victory over 
Acron, the king of the Caeninians, whom he had killed with his 
own hand, he mounted in triumph to the Capitol ; and, having 
consecrated at the top of the hill the first temple of Jupiter, that 
of Jupiter Feretrius, he hung up, in the cella of the god, the 
first spolia opima.^ 

The wars which were subsequently waged between the Latins 
of the Palatine and the Sabines of the Quirinal resulted in the 
Sabines temporarily occupying the Capitol. It was this event 
which gave rise to the legend of Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius 
Tarpeius, the officer in command of the citadel, whose treason 
was supposed to have delivered the fortress into the hands of 
the Sabines. 5 Once in possession of the Capitol, Titus Tatius, 
the king of the Sabines, erected several votive sanctuaries in the 
vicinity of the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, in particular, those of 

1 Plutarch, Romulus, XVII. : "''fl^ei 6"e Toltlos fxev onov vvv 6 rr\<; Moi^ttjs vaos 
€<ttl." Solin., I. 21. 

2 Tit. Liv., I. 8; Dionys. of Halic, II. 15; Plutarch. Romul, IX.; Strab.. 
V. 230 ; Ovid, Fast., III. 429, 399. 

3 Dionys. of Halic, II. 37 : "Tovs 7ra.paKeiju.eV0u? A.6</>ov? tov re Avevrlvov /cal tov 
"Ka-iTiTOikivov vvv \ey6jxevov aTroTacfrpeviov nol xapa/cco/xacri Kaprepoi? 7re piAap.j8a.vcoj/," 

4 Tit. Liv., I. 10; Dionys. of Halic, II. 33-34. 

5 Tit. Liv., I. it, 399 ; Dionys. of Halic, II. 38, 



THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC 7 

Terminus, of Juventas, and perhaps also that of Mars, which 
were destined to last until the end of the Empire. 1 

The treaty concluded between Romulus and Titus Tatius, 
which terminated the dissensions of the two peoples and gave 
equal powers to the two kings, opens a new era in the history of 
the Capitol. 2 Henceforward, the unity of the populations estab- 
lished in the centre of the Roman soil was an accomplished fact. 
The Capitol became the citadel of the town. The fortifications 
belonging to the hill were preserved and strengthened. It is to 
this period that may be assigned the fragment let into the wall 
of a house (No. 1) of the Via delF Arco di Settimio, and formed 
of blocks of blackish tufa, similar to those of the Roma Quad- 
rata of the Palatine. 3 

The topography of the Capitol was fixed for two centuries : 
to the north-east, the Arx with the Auguraculum, a place of 
observation for the Augurs ; in the centre, the Asylum, with the 
two woods flanking it ; to the south-west, the Capitol, with the 
temple of Jupiter Feretrius, enlarged by the king Ancus Mar- 
cius, the sanctuaries of Terminus, Juventas and Mars, the Pan- 
dana Gate, 4 which, doubtless in virtue of the treaty concluded 
between Romulus and Titus Tatius, was to remain always open, 
and the Tarpeian Rock. 

The epoch of the Tarquins, decisive in the development of 
Rome, was equally so in the history of the Capitol. Their work as 
regards the latter may be said to comprise three essential parts. 

1. The Capitol was joined on to the rest of the town by a 
series of important constructions. 

Up to that time, communications between the Capitol and the 
Forum had been difficult. The Forum and the Velabrum region 
were still partially covered with marshes. There could hardly 
have been any carriage road giving access to the Capitol. Tar- 
quin the Elder succeeded in draining the Forum and the Vela- 
brum by building a network of sewers, the principal one being 
the Cloaca Maxima. 5 It was he, probably, who established a 

1 Tit. Li v., I. 55 : ". . . Sacellct . . . quae aliquot ibi a Tatio rege primum i>i 
ipso discri7uine adversos Romulum pugnae vota, consecrata inaugurataque postea 
fuerunt." See further on, p. 29, apropos of the construction of the temple of 
Jupiter Capitolinus. 

2 Tit. Liv., I. 12 ; Dionys. of Halic., II. 50 ; Plutarch, Romul., XIX. ; Appianus, 
Roman History, I. fragm. 4 ; Serv., ad Aeneid., VII. 709. 

3 R. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, p. 61 ; Notiz. 
des.U Scavi, 1890, p. 215. 

4 According to Varro, de Ling. Latin., V. 42, and Solin. I. 13 (cf above, p. 4, 
note 1), the Pandana Gate was primitively called the Porta Saturnia. Festus, 363 : 
" Tantis postea in pace /acienda cavit a Romulo ut ea Sabinis semper pateret" ; 
cf. Kp., 220 : " Pandana porta dicta est Romae quod semper pateret." Polyaen., 
VIII. 25 ; Dionys. of Halic, X. 14, 

5 Tit. Liv., I. 38-56; Dionys. of Halic, III. 67; IV. 44; Pliny. Hist. Nat., 
XXXVI. 106. 



8 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

direct communication between the Capitol and the Forum by 
the Clivus Capitolinus, a road forming the natural prolongation 
of the Via Sacra, and by a series of winding paths, attaining 
successively to the Asylum and the summit of the Capitol pro- 
perly so called. 

The Forum, having become the chief market of the town, and 
the Capitol, being its citadel and on the way to become its 
religious centre, were thus closely connected together, and 
thenceforward were destined to have a common development 
and history. 

2. The Capitol ceased to be an isolated citadel, and was 
made part of the defences of the town by the construction 
of the wall of Servius Tullius. 

Until that time, the Capitol, in relation to the town, had 
played the role of an autonomous citadel. Servius Tullius, who 
succeeded Tarquin the Elder, included the hill in the belt that 
he built round Rome. All the northern front of the Capitol, 
that which faced the Campus Martius, became an integral 
portion of the new line of defence. The wall of Servius, which 
at this point replaced the ancient fortifications peculiar to the 
Arx and the Capitol, was built half-way up the hill on a 
platform artificially hewn out of the hill tufa. Some fragments 
of it have been discovered at various dates, notably on the 
northern flank of the Arx, in 1887, 1 1889, 2 and 1892 ; 3 on the 
flank of the Capitol properly so called, in 1872 and 1892 
(Via delle Tre Pile). 4 A sixth fragment exists, besides, on the 
northern edge of the hill, at the foot of the Palazzo Cafifarelli. 
Towards the north, the Capitol presented a steep declivity. 
There was no direct communication between the Campus 
Martius and the top of the height ; consequently, no gate 
was made in this part of the enclosure. 

The defence of the Capitol was incorporated, on the one side, 
with that of the Quirmal, on the other with that of the Tiber. 
To the north-east, the wall of Servius deviated from the Arx, 
and, in order to reach the Quirinal, crossed the hollow separ- 
ating the Arx from this hill ; there the Ratumena Gate 5 was 

1 Notiz. degll Scavi, 1887, p. 113 ; 1890, p. 215. 

2 Id., 1890, p. 215 ; Ch. Huelsen, I/er Topogr. Jahresber., Romisch. Mitth., 
1 891, p. 104. 

3 Notiz. degli Scavi, 1892, p. 200 ; Ch. Huelsen, IVer Topog. Jahresber. , Romisch. 
Mitth., 1893, p. 287. 

4 R. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, p. 54 ; Bull. 
Archeol. Com., 1873, P- J 4 r > Notiz. degli Scavi, 1890, p. 215 ; 1892, p. 229 (cf. 
Ch. Huelsen, IV er Topog. J ahresber. , Romisch. Mitth., 1893, p. 287). 

5 Legend relates that a certain Ratumena, who had won a chariot race at Veii, 
was run away with by his horses and thrown out of his chariot at the foot of the 
Capitol, at the place which bears his name. Festus, p. 274; Pliny, Hist. Nat., 
VIII. 161 ; Solin., XLV. 15; Plutarch, Publicol., XIII. after Valerius Antias. 
See further on, p. 32. 



THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC 9 

situated. To the south-west, the wall ran in the direction 
of the Tiber, which it reached opposite the southern extremity 
of the isle. In this part of the enclosure there were two gates : 
at the foot of the Capitol, the Porta Carmentalis, 1 on the road 
connecting the Forum Boarium with the Forum Holitorium ; 
and the Porta Flumentana, 2 on the road skirting the river-bank. 

Although protected, towards the north, by the wall of Servius, 
the Capitol preserved in the direction of the Forum its own 
fortifications. It continued to be the citadel of the town and, 
thereafter, formed a second line of defence behind the first. 

3. The Capitol became the religious centre of the city. 

Tarquin the Elder, in the course of the war against the 
Sabines, vowed a temple to the triad Jupiter, Juno, and 
Minerva. This temple was erected on the Capitol, and became 
the centre of the Roman national worship. The building 
required enormous preparatory work. The top of the Capitol 
had to be levelled, a vast artificial platform had to be con- 
structed, and the sides of the hill had to be consolidated. These 
preparatory tasks were pursued in the reign of Tarquin the 
Proud. The edifice was not completed until 509 B.C. (245 ab 
urbe condita), the year following the expulsion of the kings. 

The completion of the Clivus Capitolinus, intended to form 
the main approach to the temple, was the last and crowning 
accomplishment in the construction of the triumphal Via Sacra. 

At the close of the monarchical period, the primitive appear- 
ance of the Capitol had already undergone a profound trans- 
formation. The summit of the hill was covered with a broad 
esplanade, the Area Capitolina, communicating directly with the 
Forum by the Clivus Capitolinus and studded with monuments : 
in the centre stood the large temple of Jupiter ; around it were 
the ancient temple of Jupiter Feretrius, the temple of Fides, and 
the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, which latter two had been 
built, according to tradition, the first by Numa, the second by 
Servius Tullius ; there was, no doubt, too, the Curia Calabra, 
the meeting-place of the Calata Comitia during the first 
centuries of the Republic. 3 

The Arx, whose defences had been strengthened by the 
construction of the wall of Servius, was the citadel properly so 

1 The Porta Carmentalis was at the foot of the Capitol (Dionys. of Halic, I. 32 : 
'"Y7rb tu KaAovjueVoj Ka.7n.Tc0A.ta> "), not far from the altar of the nymph Carmenta; 
Solin., I. 13 : ''''Pars etiam infima Capitolini montis habitaculu7u Carmentaefuit, 
ubi Carmentis mine fanum est, a qua Carinentali portae nomen datum." Tit. 
Liv., XXIV. 47 ; XXVII. 37 ; Ovid, Fast., II. 201 ; Festus, 285 ; Ep., 335 : Serv., 
ad Aeneid., VIII. 337. 

2 Varro, de Re Rustica, III. 2 ; Cicero, ad Attic., VII. 3, 9 ; Tit. Liv., VI. 20 ; 
XXXV. 21 ; Festus, p. 89 : " Flumentana porta Romae appellata quod Tiberis 
partem ea ftuxisse affirmant" 

3 On these various buildings see further, pp. 29, 30, 43. 



io THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

called ; the Capitol, in consequence of the great works executed 
by the Tarquins, had become more especially the religious centre 
of the Roman city. 

In the retrograde period that Rome passed through after the 
expulsion of the kings and the proclamation of the Republic, 
the military, political, and religious importance of the Capitol 
steadily increased. 

The Capitol played a great role in the wars waged by Rome 
for the defence of her territory, in the fifth and fourth centuries 
B.C., and in the internal dissensions that accompanied the 




FIG. I. — TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENT CAPITOL, ACCORDING TO 
THE ARBITRARY RECONSTITUTION OF NARDINI. {Roma antica.) 



struggle of the two orders. In 491 B.C. (263 ab urbe condita), 
when Coriolanus marched on Rome with a Volscian army, the 
Capitol was put into a state of defence. 1 In 471 B.C. (283 ab urbe 
condita), under the consulate of Appius Claudius Sabinus and 
T. Quinctius Capitolinus, an insurrection broke out against the 
consul Appius : the plebs occupied the Capitol, 2 the steep side 
of which commanded the Forum and the Comitium, and only 
consented to evacuate it on the intervention of the Senate. In 
460 B.C. (294 ab urbe condita) the Sabine Herdonius, with a 



Dionys. of Halic, VIII. 23. 



Dionys. of Halic, IX. < 



THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC i i 

body of four thousand men, descended the Tiber and took the 
Capitol by surprise, as well as the Arx. Three days after, the 
Romans, under the leadership of the consul Lucius Valerius 
Publicola, mounted to the assault, along the Clivus Capitolinus, 
and succeeded in re-occupying the citadel. 1 In 450 B.C. (304 ab 
urbe condita) the decemvir Appius Claudius told the plebeians 
that a fortress like the Capitol was not solely intended to serve 
against outside enemies. 2 A little later, discovery was made of 
a conspiracy of certain slaves, who wished to seize the Capitol, 
with a view to freeing the whole body of their fellows. 3 

The chief episode in the military history of the Capitol, 
during the first three centuries of the Republic, was the siege 
by the Gauls in 390 B.C. (364 ab urbe condita). The Romans, 
who had been seized with panic at the battle of the Allia, had not 
even thought of defending the wall of Servius. The Gauls 
penetrated, unmolested, into the town. The Capitol became 
the centre of the resistance. In spite of all their efforts, the 
Gauls failed to storm the citadel ; and the legend about the 
geese of the Capitol records the fact of this failure. However, 
they reduced the defenders by famine and forced them to pay a 
ransom. 

In proportion as Rome extended her conquests in Italy, the 
Capitoline citadel necessarily lost some of its importance. The 
assault of the Gauls was the last attack by foreigners that the 
Capitol had to sustain. 

The patrician State, which, in 509 B.C. (245 ab urbe condita) 
had replaced the monarchy, continued the work of transformation 
in the Capitol undertaken by the Tarquins. — The temple of 
Jupiter was solemnly consecrated in 509 B.C. (245 ab urbe condita) 
by the consul M. Horatius Pulvillus. 4 The political and religious 
life of the Capitol received a fresh impetus. 

It was in the Capitol that, at the commencement of each 
year, the Senate held their first sitting ; 5 and they assembled 
there, also, on other occasions of exceptional importance. In 
340 B.C. (414 ab urbe condita) they gave audience in it to the 
envoys of the revolted Latins ; 6 in 189 B.C. (565 ab urbe con- 
dita) they handed there to Antipater, son of king Antiochus, 

1 On the surprising of the Capitol by Herdonius we read in Tit. Liv., III. 15-18 : 
" Exules servique ad duo millia hominum et quingenti duce Aftpio Herdonio 
Sabino node Capitolium atque arcem occupavere" Dionys. of Halic, X. 14 : 
" IIAevcra? 8e Slol tov Ti/Sepewg ttotclijlov 7rpoo~e'o-Ye ttjs 'Pw/xtjs Kara tovto to YtoP l0V ' 
'4v9a to Ka7riTa)Aioi/ eo~Tiv . . . 'Ava0i/3ao~a? t)]v SvvafJ.iv elAe to <$>povpiov, eiceiOev 8' 
€ttI tyjv aicpav cocra/u.ei>09, ecrn Se tw KaTrircoAuo irpocrexn'i' ko-kciVt)? eyeyoVei Kvpios-" 

2 Dionys. of Halic, XI. 3=;. 3 D'ionys. of Halic, XII. fragm 6. 

4 Tit. Liv., II. 8; VII. 3; Polyb., III. 22: Dionys. of Halic, V. 35 ; Plutarch. 
Publico!., XIV. ; Valer. Maxim., V. 10. 1 ; Tacit., Hist., III. 72. 

5 Tit. Liv., XXII. 1: XXIII. 31; XXIV. 10; XXVI. 1 ; XXVIII. 39; XXX. 
27 ; XXXII. 8, &c Cf. Sueton., Aug., XXVI. 6 Jit. Liv., VIII. 5. 



12 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the treaty signed with Rome. 1 — The magistrates, when entering 
on their functions, proceeded in state to the Capitol, and offered 
there a sacrifice to Jupiter ; 2 and thence it was that they started 
when quitting Rome, in order to go and put themselves at the 
head of their army or take possession of their province. 3 

The Calata Comitia met at the beginning of each month, in 
the Curia Calabra.— The plebs frequently held their " Concilia " 
on the Area Capitolina, especially in the second century B.C., 
196, 195, 169, 167, &c. (558, 559, 585, 587 ab urbe condita). 4 
It was there that Tiberius Gracchus was killed in 133 B.C. 
(621 ab urbe condita). 5 The originals of treaties signed by 
Rome with foreign peoples were deposited in the office of the 
Aediles, near the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 6 

It was at the Capitol that the consuls proceeded to the 
annual levies, and to the putting of the military oath. A red 
flag, raised over the Arx, announced to the city that the 
ceremony was terminated. 7 At the same spot, likewise, the 
young men, on attaining their sixteenth year, solemnly assumed 
the toga. 8 

The Capitol was the place of execution for crimes of the 
most serious kind : traitors or those who were convicted of 
aiming at tyrannical power (as, for instance, Manlius Capitolinus, 
in 384 B.C. (370 ab urbe condita), those who had committed 
incest, &c, were thrown from the Tarpeian Rock. 

And at the Capitol, also, were celebrated two of the most 
important religious manifestations in Roman life, the Processions 
and the Triumphs. 

Each year, on the day of the Ludi Romani, the Procession 
(pompa) was formed at the temple of Jupiter. The statues of 
the gods were placed on cars (thensae) and solemnly conducted 
along the Clivus Capitolinus and the Via Sacra to the Great 
Circus, where they were exhibited. When the games were 
finished, the gods were brought back to the Capitol and 
reinstated in their sanctuaries. 

The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was the terminal point of 
the Triumphs. 9 The victor went to thank Jupiter and pay him 

1 Tit. Liv., XXXVII. 55. 

2 Tit. Liv., XXII. 1 ; Sutton., Aug., XXVI. 

3 Tit. Liv., XXI. 63; XLI. IO ; XLII. 49. 

■i Tit. Liv., XXXIII. 35 ; XXXIV. i ; XLIII. 16 ; XLV. 36, &c. 
•5 Plutarch, Tib. Gracch., XIX.— XX. ; Appian., Civil War, 1. 16 ; Oros., V. 9. 
*> Polyb., III. 26 : " Ilapx tov Atx rov KaneTwXLov hv tw tuiv ayopavofJLiav 
T<x/u.ieuo." 

7 Tit. Liv., XXXII. 15; Polyb., VI. 19; Macrob., Saturn., I. 16. 15; Festus, 
Ep., 103; Serv., ad Aeneid., VIII. 1. 

8 Serv., ad Eclog., IV. 50. 

9 The Triumphs of Camillus, 390 B.C. (364 ab urbe condita), over the Gauls, of 
Papirius Cursor, 324, 319, 309, 293 B.C. (430, 435, 445, 461 ab urbe condita), over the 
Samnites, of Fabricius, 282 B.C. (472 ab urbe condita) and 278 B.C. (476 ab urbe 



THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC 13 

homage for the victories gained through his protection ; he 
offered a solemn sacrifice, and presented the god with rich 
gifts. The Capitol thus came to be directly associated with 
the development of Roman greatness. Each conquest, each 
extension of the Empire, had its official consecration at the 
Capitol. 

Concurrently with its political and religious development was 
pursued the architectural transformation of the Capitol. — At the 
commencement of the Republic, there were still numerous 
private houses on the spot. Uionysius of Halicarnassus relates 
that in 460 B.C. (294 ab urbe condita), when the Sabine 
Herdonius surprised the Capitol, those of the inhabitants who 
had not been slain fled from their houses or barricaded 
themselves inside. 1 

Manlius Capitolinus, the defender of the Capitol against the 
Gauls in 390 B.C. (364 ab urbe condita), possessed a house on 
the Arx. 2 After the retreat of the Gauls, the Senate established 
the Ludi Capitolini or Capitoline games in commemoration of 
the event ; and entrusted the organisation of them to the 
inhabitants of the hill, constituting the said inhabitants into a 
College. 3 When Manlius was put to death for high treason, 
in 384 B.C. (370 ab urbe condita), his house was razed ; and a 
law passed in the same year forbade the patricians to dwell 
either on the Capitol or on the Arx. 4 During the last three 
centuries of the Republic, the various private houses were 
gradually replaced by public buildings. 

The grounds situated at the foot of the Capitol, in the 
direction of the Campus Martius and the Forum Boarium, were 

condita), and of Curius Dentatus, 290, 275 B.C. (464, 479 ab urbe condita), over the 
Lucanians, the Tarentines and Pyrrhus, mark the definitive conquest of Italy by 
Rome; tho^e of Appius Claudius, 264 B.C. (490 ab urbe condita), of Lutatius Catulus, 
241 B.C. (513 ab urbe condita), and of Scipio Africanus, 201 B.C. (553 ab urbe condita), 
mark the fall of Carthage ; those of Flaminius, 194 B.C. (560 ab urbe condita), over 
Macedonia, of L. Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, 189 B.C. (565 ab urbe condita), over 
Antiochus, of Fulvius Nobilior, 187 B.C. (567 ab urbe condita), over the Aetolians, of 
Paullus Aemilius, 167 B.C. (587 ab urbe condita), and of Metellus, 146 B.C. (608 ab 
urbe condita), over Macedonia, of Mummius, 145 B.C. (609 ab urbe condita), over 
Greece, of Scipio Aemilianus, 146 B.C. (608 ab urbe condita), over Carthage, of 
Metellus, 106 B.C. (648 ab urbe condita), over Jugurtha, of Marius, 101 B.C. (653 ab 
urbe condita), over the Cirribri and the Teutons, of Sylla, 81 B.C. (673 ab urbe condita), 
and of Lucullus, 63 B.C. (691 ab urbe condita), over Mithridates, of Pompey, 61 B.C. 
(693 ab urbe condita), over the East, of Caesar, 46 B.C. (708 ab urbe condita), over Gaul, 
of Octavian, 29 B.C. (725 ab urbe condita), over Egypt, mark the submission to Rome 
of the basin of the Mediterranean. 

1 Dionys. of Halic, X. 15 : ". . .Td Teyr} t&v oiKidv KaTelxov afxa yvvcu^Lv, u>s 
a-rro rovroiv aycoviovixevui 7rpbs tov<s eio-ekrjAvOoTCLS." 

2 Tit. Liv., VI. 20 ; VII. 28 ; the house of Manlius Capitolinus was on the site 
later occupied by the temple of Juno Moneta and the Mint. Plutarch, Camill., 
XXXVI. 

3 Tit. Liv., V. 50. Cf, C.I.L., I. 805. 

4 Tit. Liv., VI. 20: " Ne quis patricius in Arce aut Capitolio habitaret" : 
Plutarch, Camill, XXXVI. 



i 4 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

public property ; they were occupied by the religious fraternities 
of the Pontiffs, the Augurs, the Decemvirs, and the Flamens. 
In 88 B.C. (666 ab urbe condita), at the time of the war against 
Mithridates, Sylla took possession of these grounds and sold 
them, in order to procure the State the resources it lacked. 1 
The quarter then began to be built upon by private persons, 
whose houses remained until the end of the Empire. 

In the last century of the Republic, the general topography 
of the Capitol was the following : — On the Arx stood the 
temples of Juno Moneta, with the factories of the Mint, the 
temples of Vejovis and Concord. The wall of Servius was 
everywhere falling to decay. The Asylum, at the time, 
restricted and separated from the Forum by the bulk of the 
Tabularium, contained but one edifice, the sanctuary of Vejovis. 
An enclosure, fenced with a wall (Locus Saeptus), recalled the 
site where Romulus had once opened his refuge. On the 
Capitol, round the large temple of Jupiter, were grouped the 
temples of Jupiter Feretrius, of Fides, of Mens, and of Venus 
Erycina, as also of Ops, together with the sanctuary of 
Fortuna Primigenia and a large number of monuments (statues, 
dedicatory bases . . .), which will be spoken of further. — Some 
private houses still remained, especially on the sides of the hill 
and on the slopes that, from the Asylum, gave access to the 
Capitol and the Arx. 



Imperial Period. 

From the administrative point of view, the Capitol had 
continued to be outside of the four regions of Servius, which 
made up the city properly so called. This state of things still 
persisted at the commencement of the Empire, when Augustus 
replaced the old division by a larger organisation and created 
the fourteen regions. The Capitol, together with the ancient 
Forum and the imperial Fora, formed the eighth region. 2 

1 Appian, Mith., 22; Oros., V. 18: " Loca publico, quae in circuitu Capitolii 
ftontificibuS) auguribus, decemviris et flaminibus in possessionem tradita era.7it, 
cogente inopia vendita sunt." 

2 The Regionaries of the fourth century mention in the eighth region: ''''Rostra 
III. Geniu7n Populi Romani Aureum et Equum Constantani. Senatum. Atrium 
Minervae. Forum Caesaris. Augusti. Nervae. Trajani. Templum divi Trajani 
et columnam cochlidem. Cohort em VI Vigilum. Basiiicam Argent ariam. Templum 
Concordiae. Umbilicum Romae. Templum Saturtii et Vespasiani et Titi. Capi- 
tolium. Miliarium Aureum. Basilicam Juliam. Templum Castorum. Vesta?n, 
Horrea Germaniciana et Agrippiana. Aquam cernentem. IV Scaros sub Aede. 
Atriii7ii Caci. Vicum Jugarium et Unguentarium. Graecostadium. Porticum 
Margaritariam. Elefantum Herbarium." It should be remarked that in this 
enumeration none of the numerous edifices of the Capitol are expressly mentioned. 



IMPERIAL PERIOD 15 

Although the fortifications of the Capitol had fallen into ruins, 
the hill, by virtue of its commanding situation and its proximity 
to the centre of the city, had not lost all its military importance. 
The events which happened in Rome, in 69 A.D., after Nero's 
death, recalled the period of the struggle of the two orders. 1 
The partisans of Vespasian, with Sabinus, the brother of 
Vespasian, at their head, threw themselves into the Capitol. 
The troops of Vitellius, drawn up in a column on the Clivus 
Capitolinus, mounted to the assault. From the top of the 
Capitol and the portico skirting the Clivus, the soldiers of 
Sabinus rained down on the assailants a storm of projectiles, 
barricaded the gate that gave access to the Area Capitolina 
and succeeded in repulsing them. The besiegers then changed 
their tactics. Renouncing the frontal attack, they attempted 
two flanking movements, a northern one, on the side of the 
Asylum, where the private houses built in tiers, on the slope of 
the Capitol favoured their attack, and a southern one, along 
the staircase of the Centum Gradus. This double assault 
succeeded. The Capitol was captured. Sabinus and the 
greater number of his partisans were slaughtered. During the 
battle, .several of the edifices covering the Area Capitolina, the 
temple of Jupiter in particular, were destroyed by fire. 2 

Under the Empire, the Senate continued to hold meetings in 
the Capitol on solemn occasions. The temple of Jupiter was 
still the scene of numerous triumphs, in which the victors were 
no longer consuls, but emperors. The most brilliant were those 
of Augustus, after the conquest of Egypt ; of Claudius, after the 
conquest of Britain ; of Vespasian and Titus, after the repression 
of the Jews 5 revolt ; of Hadrian, who celebrated a triumph for 
the victories gained by Trajan ; of Marcus Aurelius, L. Verus, 
and Commodus, conquerors of the Parthians and Germans ; of 
Caracalla; of Alexander Severus ; and of Aurelian, the last of 
whom, by a luxurious triumph in which figured as prisoners 
Tetricus, the emperor of Gaul, and Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, 
consecrated the reconstitution of the Imperial Unity. 

The emperors raised new edifices on the Capitol. At several 
different times, notably after the two great fires of 69 A.D., 3 
under Vitellius, and of 80 A.D., under Titus, 4 they repaired or 
rebuilt the older ones. 

Augustus rebuilt the temple of Jupiter Feretrius 5 (about 
31 B.C., 723 ab urbe condita), and erected on the Area Capitolina 

1 With reference to these events, see especially Tacitus, Histories, III. 71, and 
Suetonius, Vitellius, XV. 

2 Tac, Hist, III. 71. Cf. Sueton., Vitell, XV. 

3 See further, pp. 33-34. 

4 Sueton., Tit., VIII. ; Dion Cass., LXVI. 24. . 

5 Res Gest. Div. Aug,, 4. 5 ; Cornel. Nepos, Attic, XX. ; Tit. Li v., IV. 20. 



16 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

two new temples consecrated to Jupiter Tonans x (32 B.C., 722 ab 
urbe condita) and to Mars Ultor 2 (20 B.C., 734 ab urbe condita) ; 
in 9 B.C. (745 ab urbe condita) he repaired the temple of Jupiter 
Capitolinus, which had been injured by lightning. 3 

Germanicus dedicated trophies, near the temple of Fides, 4 
in commemoration of his victories over the Germans. 

Caligula undertook the construction of a palace on the Area 
Capitolina, 5 but the work was never finished by him. 

Claudius raised an altar to Jupiter Soter, 6 on the Area ; 
and Nero raised a triumphal arch and dedicated trophies, 7 in 
the Asylum, to commemorate the victories of Corbulo over the 
Parthians. In 55 a.d. the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was 
struck by lightning. 8 

Vespasian rebuilt the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, after its 
destruction by fire in 69 A.D. 9 

Under Titus, in 80 a.d., the temple of Jupiter was burnt for 
the third time. 10 Domitian rebuilt it with magnificence, in 
81 and 82 A.D. ; n and, four years later, instituted an Agon 
Capitolinus, games which were to be celebrated every four 
years. 12 Before his accession to the imperial throne, he raised 
a sanctuary to Jupiter Conservator, which was subsequently 
transformed into a temple of Jupiter Custos. 13 In 82 a.d. also, 
there was something said of a tribunal of Vespasian, Titus, and 
Domitian, situated on the Capitol. 14 

Hadrian built an audience hall, the Athenaeum, 15 to which 
was annexed a library, and Marcus Aurelius, a Sanctuary of 
Beneficence. 16 

The last dated monument mentioned in records is the statue 
of Claudius the Gothic, 17 which was raised after his death, at the 
beginning of 270 A.D., by decree of the Senate. 

1 Res Gest. Div. Aug., 4. 5 ; Sueton., Aug., XXVIII. , XCI. 

2 Dion Cass., XLV. 8. 

3 Res Gest. Div. Aug., 4. 9. 

4 C.I.L., III., pp. 856, 857 (Military diplomas of the year 86), Nos. XIII., 
XIV. 

5 Sueton., Calig., XXII.: "In area Capitolina novae domus fundamenta 
jecit." 

6 Phlegon., Mirab., VI. ; Serv., ad Aeneid., VIII. 651. 

7 Tac, Ann., XIII. 41 ; XV. 18. 8 Tac, Ann., XIII. 24. 

9 Tac, IV. 53 ; Dion Cass., LXVI. 10; Sueton., Vespas., VIII. ; Aurel. Victor, 
Caesar, 9. 7 ; Plutarch, PublicoL, XV. ; Chronicles of St. Jerome, ad ann. Abrah., 
2089. 

10 Dion Cass., LXVI. 24 ; Sueton., Domit., VIII. ; Plutarch, PublicoL, XV. 

11 Sueton., Domit., V. ; Plutarch, PublicoL, XV. 

12 Censor., 18. 15; Sueton., Domit., IV. ; Stat., Silv., V. 3. 281 ; Martial, VI., 
387, &c. 

13 Tac, Hist., III. 74 ; Sueton., Domit., V. 

1 4 C.I L., III., pp. i960, 1961. (Military diplomas of the year 82 a.d., in 
Tribunali Caesarum Vespasiani Titi Domitiani, and 86, in tribunali). 

1 5 Dion Cass., LXXIII, 17 ; Aurel. Vict., Caesar, 14. 3, 4. 

16 Dion Cass., LXXI. 34. 17 Vita Claud., III. 4. 



TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CAPITOL 17 

At the opening of the fourth century, the Capitol was entirely 
covered with civil and religious edifices. The evolution period 
was at an end, and the period of decay was at hand. This is, 
therefore, a favourable moment for studying in its details the 
topography of the Capitoline hill. 



Topography of the Capitol, 
approaches to it. 

Considered in its relations to the rest of the city, the Capitol, 
both topographically and historically, made up a distinctly 
characterised aggregate. It was not a mere quarter of private 
houses, as most quarters were, or yet of imperial palaces, like 
the Palatine. From the commencement of the Republic, the 
tendency had been for private houses to become less numerous. 
Those that remained were found only on the sides of the 
hill towards the Velabrum and the Campus Martius, or on 
the slopes of the Capitol and the Arx, towards the Asylum. The 
Regionaries of the fourth century mention for the eighth region, 
which, besides the Capitol, comprised the whole of the Fora, 
34 vici, 3,486 insulae, and 130 domi. The Capitol, the Arx, and 
the greater portion of the Asylum were occupied by numerous 
public edifices, both civil and religious. 

The Capitol, placed as a barrier between the plain of the 
Campus Martius to the north-west the Forum Boarium, the 
Velabrum, and the Forum to the south-east and south, and 
being a sheer declivity everywhere on the north side, as well as 
almost everywhere on the south, was not a thoroughfare. Traffic 
was compelled to go round the two ends of the hill. To the south, 
the road was used which, deviating from the Forum Boarium, 
crossed the wall of Servius at the Porta Carmentalis, reached 
the Forum Holitorium, and, passing between the theatre of 
Marcellus and the Minucia portico, led to the Campus 
Martius. This street, which corresponded to the Via della 
Bocca della Verita of to-day, was the most ancient and the most 
easy line of communication between the regions situated on the 
two flanks of the Capitol. 

At the north-eastern extremity of the Capitol, between the 
Arx and the Quirinal, there was, during the periods of the 
monarchy and the Republic, nothing but a series of steep, 
narrow streets winding round the side of the two hills. The 
creation of the imperial Fora, for which Caesar was primarily 
responsible, transformed all this quarter. Then seems to have 
been established the Clivus Argentarius (Via di Marforio of 



1 8 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

to-day), intended to connect the Forum with the Campus 
Martius. But this road soon ceased to be adequate to the 
requirements of a circulation and traffic that increased continu- 
ally. By the construction of his Forum, Trajan opened up 
between the two quarters a new, broad road which was easily 
accessible. Trajan's column indicated by its dimensions the 
height of the neck of land which the emperor had had razed. 

Communication between the two roads that ran round the 
Capitol at the two ends was secured by the two parallel roads of 
the Vicus Jugarius and the Vicus Tuscus, which joined the main 
road of the Forum — the Via Sacra — to the Tiber. 

On the north-west there was no direct communication 
between the summit of the Capitol and the plain of the Campus 
Martius situated at its foot. All the approaches to the Capitol 
were on the south-east, towards the Forum. This was a con- 
sequence both of the topographical features of the place and of 
the hill's historical development. The only point at which the hill 
did not run sheer down was on the south-east, in the direction of 
the Asylum. On the other hand, at the time when the Capitol had 
become the citadel of the town, the plain of the Campus Martius 
was not populated. The town in its entirety extended to the 
south and east. The Forum had already become the centre and 
the great mart of the new city. It was, therefore, natural that 
Tarquin should establish on that side the principal approach to 
the Capitol, viz., the Clivus Capitolinus. 

From the end of the monarchical period the approaches to 
the Capitol were three in number : only one of these, the Clivus 
Capitolinus, was accessible to carriages ; the two others were 
staircases hewn out of the tufa of the hill. Their names were 
Scalae Gemoniae and Gradus Monetae, on the Arx ; Centum 
Gradus, on the Capitol. 

The Clivus Capitolinus, 1 which was the road used for pro- 
cessions and triumphs, deviated from the Via Sacra, of which it 
was the natural prolongation, beyond the temple of Saturn. 
The difference of level (thirty-seven and a half yards) existing 
between the Forum and the summit of the Capitol had 
necessitated the adoption of a winding route for the Clivus. 
It passed first between the temple of Saturn, on the one hand, 
the temple of Vespasian and the portico of the Dii Consentes, on 
the other, parallel to the front of the Tabularium ; then it bent 
at right angles in the direction of the south-to-north, skirted the 
Tabularium, which it bounded to the north-west, and reached 

l Tit. Liv., XLI. 27.7; Plin., Hist. Nat., XIX. 23; Tacit., Hist, III. 71; 
Cicero, firo Sest., XXVIII. ; post Redit., XII.; pro Mitou., LXIV. ; Philifip., 
II. 16. 19; ad Attic, II. r. 6 ; Festus, p. 344; Servius, ad Aeneid., II. 116 ; VIII. 

3i9- 



TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CAPITOL 19 

the Asylum at the point where the present Via del Campidoglio 
issues. Thence, it led to the Area Capitolina, by following a 
direction similar to that of the staircase which to-day gives 
communication between the Piazza del Campidoglio and the Via 
di Monte Tarpeio. 

About the middle of the Clivus Capitolinus there was a blind 
alley (angiportus) where, each year, on the 17th from the 
Kalends of July (15th of June), was solemnly deposited the sacred 
dung from the temple of Vesta. This blind alley was closed by 
a gate, the Porta Stercoraria. 1 Further on, stood two triumphal 
arches, the one dedicated in 190 B.C. (564 ab urbe condita) by 
Scipio Africanus, and ornamented with seven gilded statues, 
with two marble fountain-basins in front, 2 the other, the Fornix 
Calpurnius, which probably dated back to the same time. 3 

In the last portion of its course, the Clivus was adorned with a 
portico that had been constructed in 174 B.C. (58oaburbe condita), 
when certain improvements (paving, &c.) were carried out by 
the censors P. Fulvius Flaccus and A. Postumius Albinus ; this 
portico extended to the level of the Area Capitolina. 4 Towards 
the Forum were also to be found, in the last century of the 
Republic, a few private houses, notably that of Milo, the 
adversary of Clodius. 5 

The Scalae Gemoniae 6 deviated from the Comitium on the 
south of the Career, and reached the Asylum, as it would seem, 
a little to the north-east of the Via dell' Arco di Settimio of to- 
day, to which this staircase was parallel. From the Asylum, 
another staircase, the Gradus Monetae, 7 a prolongation of the 
preceding one, led to the summit of the Arx. In the time of the 
Republic, and, still, under the Empire, the bodies of condemned 
persons, after their execution, were exposed on the Scalae 
Gemoniae : Sejanus and his family, under Tiberius, Sabinus 
and Vitellius, killed in 69 A.D., were exposed there. 8 

1 Festus, 344: " Stercus ex aede Vestae, XVII Kal. Jul. defertur in 
angiportum medium fere clivi Cafiitolini. qui locus clauditur porta Stercoraria" ; 
^.,•258 \ Varro, de Ling. Latin., VI. 32.' 2 Tit. Liv., XXXVII. 3. 7. 

3 Orosius, V. 9, relates that Tiberius Gracchus was killed while fleeing from the 
Area Capitolina, by the staircase above the Fornix Calpurnius : "per gradus qui 
sunt super Calpurnium fornicem." 

4 Tit. Liv., XLI. 27 : "Clivum Capitolinum silice sternendum et porticum ab 
aede Saturni in Capitolium . . . fecerunt." Tac, Hist., III. 71 (date 69) : 
" Erant antiquitus porticus in latere clivi dextrae subeuuiibics." 

5 Cicero, pro Mi/on., XXIV. 64. 

6 Valer. Max., VI. 3. 3 ; IX. 13; Tac, Ann. III. 14 ; VI. 4. 31 ; Hist., III. 74. 
85 ; Sueton., Tiber., LIII., LXL, LXXV. ; Vitell., XVII. ; Dion Cass., LVIII. 1. 
5. 11. 16 ; LXV. 21 ; Plin., Hist. Nat., VIII. 146, employs the expression : gemitorii 
gradus. 

7 The Gradus Monetae are mentioned only by one text of Ovid, Fast., I. 638 : 
"Quae fert sublimes alta Moneta Gradus." 

8 Sejanus and his family : Tacit., Ann., VI. 4 ; Dion Cass., LVIII. 5. Sabinus : 
Tacit., Hist., III. 74. Vitellius : Tacit., Hist., III. 85 ; Sueton., Vitell., XVII. 

C 2 



20 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The Centum Gradus, situated at the southern extremity of the 
Capitol, placed the quarter of the Forum Boarium in communica- 
tion with the Area Capitolina. 1 In 69 A.D., the soldiers of 
Vitellius, repulsed in their frontal attack along the Clivus 
Capitolinus, climbed the Centum Gradus, in order to penetrate 
into the enclosure of the Capitol. 2 

Conformably to the general topography of the hill and to the 
connecting links between it and the Forum, the edifices of the 
Capitol were mostly turned to the south-east. This was notably 
the case with the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and with the 
Tabularium, which latter occupied on that side the whole front 
of the Asylum. 

Processions going from the temple of Jupiter to the Great 
Circus, triumphs on their way to the Capitol, passed along the 
entire extent of the Forum. The Via Sacra, continued by the 
Clivus Capitolinus, was essentially the road of the Capitol. 



The Arx. 

The Arx, which was the old Capitoline citadel, preserved until 
the last century of the Republic a real military importance. 

On account of its special character, and also of the limited 
extent of the ground, the edifices which were built on it were 
but few in number. We know of none whose construction was 
posterior to the end of the second century B.C. 

The only edifices mentioned in historic records are the 
temples of Juno Moneta, Concord, and Vejovis, built under the 
Republic, and the Auguraculum which, according to tradition, 
dates back to the monarchical epoch. 

The temple of Juno Moneta was at once the most important 
and the most ancient of the edifices of the Arx. This temple 
had been vowed in 344 B.C. (410 ab urbe condita), in the course 
of a war against the Aurunci, by the dictator L. Furius 
Camillus. 3 The dedication took place in 343 B.C. (411 ab urbe 
condita), 4 on the day of the Kalends of June (1st of June). 5 
The temple stood on the northern portion of the Arx, 6 on the 
site said to be that of the ancient house of Manlius Capitolinus, 
which was razed in 384 B.C. (370 ab urbe condita) by decree of 

1 Tacit., Hist., III. 71: " Diver so s Cafiitolii adit us invadunt juxta lucwn 
Asyli et qua Tarpeia Rupes centum gradibus aditur." The Centum Gradus were 
almost on the site of the staircase which to-day gives access from the Via dei 
Saponari to the Via di Monte Tarpeio. Cf. p. 66, note 3. 

2 Tit. Liv., VII. 28 ; Ovid, Fast., VI. 183, 599 ; Macrob., Saturn., I. 12. 30. 

3 Id. 4 Id. : " Anno postquam vota erat aedes Monetae dedicatur" 

5 Calendr. Venous., the day of the Kalends of June (C.I.L., I 2 , p. 21). 

6 Ovid, Fast., loc. cit. : "In summa Arce." 



THE ARX 21 

the Senate. 1 Legend related that the epithet Moneta was of 
posterior origin, and that it commemorated a counsel (monere) 
given to the Romans by Juno, at the time of the war which was 
urged against Tarentutn, about 272 B.C. (482 ab urbe condita). 2 
Three years later, in 269 B.C. (485 ab urbe condita), when 
Rome began to coin silver money, the factory was established 
in the dependent outbuildings of the temple of Juno, 3 and was 
destined to remain there until the end of the first century B.C. 
(probably under Nerva's reign), at which date it was removed 
and transferred to the imperial Mint of the Caelius. The temple 
of Juno Moneta seems to have been struck by lightning at the 
end of the second century, 115 B.C. (639 ab urbe condita) ; 4 and, 
in consequence of this fire, it was repaired and perhaps rebuilt. 
The records give no precise indication as to the fact. The 
temple of Juno Moneta must have disappeared at an early 
period, for no traces of it have been found. 

The temple of Concord, a hundred and twenty-three years 
posterior to the temple of Juno Moneta, had been vowed in 
221 B.C. (553 ab urbe condita), by the praetor L. Manlius, on 
the occasion of a mutiny that had broken out in the army, in 
Gaul, and that he had succeeded in quelling. 5 The works of 
construction, distributed in 220 B.C. (534 ab urbe condita) by 
the duumvirs C. Pupius and C. Quinctius Flaminius, were 
finished two years after. 6 The dedication took place on the 
day of the Nones of February (5th of February), 218 B.C. (536 
ab urbe condita), under the direction of the duumvirs M. and 
C. Atilii. 7 Annual sacrifices were offered in it on the 5th of 
February, the anniversary of the dedication. 8 

The temple of Vejovis was vowed in 196 B.C. (558 ab urbe 
condita) by the consul L. Furius Purpureo, and was dedicated 

1 Tit. Liv., VII. 28. 

2 Several traditions existed in Rome as to the nature of the counsel given by 
Juno: Cicero, De Divin., I. 45. 101 : " Scriptum a multis est, cum terrae motus 

/actus esset, ut sua plena procuratio fieret, vocem ab aede Junonis ex arce 
exstitisse : quo circa Junonem Mam appellatam Monetam." (Cf. II. 32. 69.) 
Suidas on the word Movyjtol ; the Romans, lacking money at the time of the war 
against Pyrrhus and Tarentum, implored Juno, who replied to them : " El rate 
oirXinv avde^ovrat /xeTa 8ucaL0<rvvri<;, xP^lf JLaTa clvtovs fxrj tniketyeLV Tv^oi/re? Se 
'Poojaatoi ttjs aiT^a-ea)? eTL^aav "Hpav M.oi/rJTav TOVTecrTi av/a^3ouAov, to 1/6/u.tcr/xa ev 
T(5 tepcu avTrj? vofJiio-dvTes x a P<*-TTa-o-6aL." 

3 Tit. Liv., VI. 20 : " Ubi nunc aedes atque officina Monetae est" 

4 Plin., Hist. Nat., II. 144 : " Tacta Junonis aede Romae, Scauro consule qui mox 
prhfeps fuitr 

5 Tit. Liv., XXII. 33. 7 : t{ In religionem etiam venit, aedem Concordiae quam 
per seditionem militarem biennio ante L. Manlius praetor in Gallia vovisset 
locatam ad id tempus non esse." 

6 Id. : " Duumviri ad earn rem creati a M. Aemilio praetore ttrbis C. Pnpius 
et Casso Quinctius Flamininus aedem in arce faciendain locaverunt." 

7 Id., XXIII. 21. 7 : ''''Duumviri creati M. et C. Atilii aedem Concordiae qua??i 
C. Manlius praetor voverat dedicavei unt." 

8 Calendr. Prenest., the dav of the Nones of February. 



22 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

four years later, in 192 B.C. (562 ab urbe condita). 1 In the cella 
was a statue of Vejovis, in cypress wood, which Pliny the 
Elder mentioned in the time of the Flavians. 2 

These two sanctuaries of Concord and Vejovis must have been 
of somewhat small dimensions. Their exact site cannot be 
determined with any degree of certainty. It is, however, 
probable that the temple of Concord was on the southern side 
of the Arx, in proximity to the great temple of Concord situated 
at the north-east extremity of the Forum. 

To the south of the temple of Juno Moneta extended the 
Auguraculum. 3 The ground, which towards the south rose above 
the hollow of the Forum, and from where a comprehensive view 
could be obtained of the amphitheatre of hills formed by the 
Palatine, the Aventine, the Caelian, the Esquilian, and the 
Quirinal, offered a wide prospect to the observations of the 
Augurs. The Auguraculum properly so called, which was, no 
doubt, a hut 4 similar to the cabins of Romulus piously preserved 
on the Capitol and the Palatine, stood in the midst of a grassy 
esplanade. There grew the sacred vervain which was solemnly 
sent to the Fetiales, whose function it was to declare war in the 
name of the Roman people. 5 

Of the ancient fortifications peculiar to the Arx, towards the 
Forum, there remains but a fragment let into a wall of the Via 
delP Arco di Settimio (No. 1) ; the construction is identical with 
that of the primitive Palatine enclosing wall. 6 The part of the 
wall of Servius which coincided with the contours of the Arx had 
almost entirely disappeared at the imperial epoch. There 
remained only a few fragments, utilised as foundations or 
sustaining walls. Three of these fragments were discovered 
during the works carried out for the monument to Victor- 
Emmanuel : in 1887 ; 7 in 1889 8 (four rows of blocks, of a total 
length of i6|> yards, arranged alternately lengthways and across) ; 
in 1892 (six rows of blocks : total width nearly 4 yards, height 
also nearly 4 yards). 9 The first two were found in the direction 

1 Tit. Liv., XXXV. 41. 

2 V\m.,Hist. Nat., XVI. 216: " Nonne simulacrum Vejovis in arce e cupresso 
durat a condita DLXI anno dicatum." 

3 Varro, de Ling. Lat., VII. 8; Festus, p. 18: "Auguraculum appellabant 
antiqui quam nos arcem dicimtcs, quod ibi Augures auspicarentur." Cf. Cicero, 
de Offic, III. 16. 66. 

4 Perhaps it is the " casa sacrorum stramentis tecta" of which Vitruvius speaks, 
De Archil.. II. 1. 20. 

5 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXII. 5 : " Gramen cum sua terra ex arce evulsum" Tit. 
Liv., I. 24: " Fetialis ex arce graminis herb am puram attulit." 

6 R. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of 'Ancient Rome, p. 64. 

7 Notiz. d. Scav., 1887, p. 113 ; 1890, p. 215. 

• 8 Id., 1890, p. 215; Ch. Huelsen. II er Topog. Jahresber., Romisch. Mitth., 1891, 
p. 104. 

9 Notiz. d. Scav., 1892, p. 200; Bull. A7'cheol. Com., 1892, pp. 145, 146; Ch. 
Huelsen, IV er Topog. Jahresber.^ Romisch. Mitth., 1893, P* 2 %7' 



THE ASYLUM 23 

of the Via di Marforio, the third, in that of the Via Giulio 
Romano. 

On the flanks of the Arx, especially to the north-east, towards 
the Campus Martius, stood numerous private houses arranged 
in tiers, and having their rears against the declivity of the hill. 
The front of the houses faced, on the east, the Clivus Argentarius, 
on the north, a street deviating from the Clivus, not far from the 
sepulchre of Bibulus, and skirting the foot of the hill in a direc- 
tion appreciably parallel to that of the Via Giulio Romano of 
to-day. Apart of this street was discovered in 1871. In the 
years between 1888 and 1892, numerous remains of private 
nouses were discovered, especially between the Beata Rita 
church and the modern staircase of the Aracoeli ; these houses 
were ornamented with mosaics and mural paintings. 1 

Besides, the northern base of the Arx was occupied by a 
certain number of sanctuaries consecrated to foreign divinities, 
especially Oriental, these being hollowed out in the rock. 2 In- 
scriptions give the names of Dea Celestis, 3 Jupiter Sabazius, 4 
Hecate, 5 Mithra. 6 One of these sanctuaries, discovered in 
1892, in the vicinity of the Via Giulio Romano, measured rather 
more than 3J yards long, not quite 2\ yards wide, and 2| yards 
high. 7 



The Asylum— The Tabularium. 

The ancient Asylum, the centre of which is to-day occupied by 
the Piazza del Campidoglio, extended primitively to the north- 
east and south-west, as far as the slopes of the Arx and the Capitol 
properly so called, to the north-west, as far as the declivity that 
commands the Campus Martius, and to the south-east, as far as the 
Forum. It had been made smaller in 78 B.C. (676 ab urbe condita) 
by the building of the Tabularium, whose dimensions nearly 
corresponded to those of the present Senatorial palace. 

The two woods (luci) of the Arx and the Capitol, the souvenir 
of which had been kept in the expression iiiter duos Lucos, had 

1 See especially Notiz. d. Scav., 1888, p. 68 ; 1884, p. 160 ; 1892, pp. 43, 313, 343, 
348, 406; Bull. Archeol. Com., 1889, p. 206 ; Notiz. d. Scav., 1891, p. 315, and the 
J ahresberichte of Ch. Huelsen, Romisch. Mittk., 1889, pp. 254, 255; 1891, p. 104; 
1892, p. 292 ; 1893, p. 288. 

2 Notiz. d. Scav., 1892, p. 407; Ch. Huelsen, IVer Tofiog. Jahresber., Romisch. 
Mitth., 1893, p. 288. 

3 Marble base, om. 36c high, om. 53c. broad, oni- 41c. thick. 

4 Statuette, 36 centimetres high, with inscription, " Sancto deo Sabazi Attia 
Celerina Dipnuvi) d(edit) per voc(em) Pegasi Sacerdo(tis)." Notiz. d. Scav., 189?, 
p. 43 ; Bull. Archeol. Coin., 1892, 364 ; Ch, Huelsen, loc. cit. 

5 I.G.I. (Ed. Kaibel), 1017. 6 C.I.L., VI. 719. 
7 Ch. Huelsen, loc. cit., p, 288, 



24 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

already disappeared at the commencement of the Empire. Of 
the Asylum, which, according to legend, Romulus had opened, 
there remained only a space of limited area, surrounded with 
walls and designated under the name of " Locus Saeptus." 1 
Perhaps an ancient sanctuary was comprised in this enclosure. 2 
In the neighbourhood were several public edifices : the temple 
of Vejovis, the triumphal arch and the trophies of Nero, towards 
the Campus Martius, and the Tabularium, towards the Forum. 

The temple of Vejovis, which was distinct from the temple of 
Vejovis situated on the Arx, already existed in the last century 
of the Republic. 3 Every year, a sacrifice was offered in it, on 
the day of Nones of March (7th of March), the anniversary of 
its dedication. 4 Inside the cella was a statue of the god repre- 
sented under a juvenile form, with a bundle of arrows in his 
hand and a goat beside him. 5 

The arch and the trophies of Nero were raised, between 58 
and 62 A.D., to celebrate the victories of Corbulo over the Par- 
thians. 6 A coinage of Nero's represents this arch as being 
formed of a single curve. The summit of the pediment is 
adorned with a quadriga ; the two sides, with statues in bronze. 7 
Nero's monuments, which no posterior records mention, were 
probably destroyed after his death in 68 A.D. 

The Tabularium, which was the most important of the edifices 
of the Asylum, was built in 78 B.C. (676 ab urbe condita), under 
the consulate of M. Aemilius Lepidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus. 8 
The dedicatory inscriptions (two of them are known ; one 
remained in its place until the sixteenth century, the other was 
discovered at the time of the clearing works executed in 1845) 

1 Tit. Liv., I. 8 : " Loc?i?n qui nunc saeptus descendentibus inter duos hicos est." 
Ovid. Fast., III. 431 : 

"Romulus saxo lucum circumdedit alto." 
Dion Cass., XLVIT. 10 ; Strabo, V. 230. 

2 Dionys. of Halic, II. 15, says of Romulus: " Naw eirl tov'tw Karaa-Kevaad- 
ixivos (ot<u 6e apaOeco rj Souixoviuiv ov\ ^X<o to craves et7reti>)." Cf. Strabo's expression, 
loc. cit. : Ttfxevos. 

3 Vitruv., De Archit., IV. 8. 4 ; Ovid, Fast., VI. 429, 399 : 

" Una not a est Marti nonis, sacrata quod illis 
Templa putant lucos Vediovis ante duos." 

4 Calend. Prenest., day of the Nones of March (C.I.L., I 2 , p. 31 t). 

5 Aul. Gell., V. 12 : "Simulacrum igitur dei Vediovis quod est in aede de qua 
supra dixi, sagittas tenet, quae sunt videlicet fiartae ad nocendum . Quapropter 
eum deum plerumque Afiollinem dixerunt immolaturque rite huinano capra 
ejusque animalis figmentum juxta simulacrum stat." Cf. Ovid, Fast., III. 437, 

599- 

6 Tac, Ann., XIII. 41; " Statu ae et Arcus . . . decernuntur" ; XV. 18: 
" Arc us medio Capitolini moniis sistebantur." 

7 H. Cohen, Historic Description of Coins struck under the Roman Empire, 
2nd edition, I. Nero, 306. 

8 H. Jordan, Die Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum, I. 2, pp. 135-154 ; 
Fr. Reber, Die Ruinen Roms, pp. 69-73. 



THE TABULARIUM 



25 



bear only the name of Q. Lutatius Catulus : Q(uintus) Luta- 
tius Q(uinti) f(ilius) Q(uinti) n(epos) Catulus Co(n)s(u)l Sub- 
structionem et Tabularium de s(enatus) s(ententia) faciendum 
coeravit (ei)demque prob(avit)." x The second inscription is 
shorter : "(Q. Lu)tatius Q. f. Q. n. (Catulus cos ex s)en. sent, 
faciundum (coeravit) eidemque prob(avit)." 2 The fortifications, 
connecting the defence of the Arx with that of the Capitol pro- 
perly so called, dated back to the monarchical period ; 3 they 
had to disappear definitively at the time of the building of the 
new edifice. 

The various public administrations had previously had, and 
still continued to have, their own especial archives. The Tabu- 
larium of the Capitol was intended to centralise, under the 





*^y 



FIG. 2. — NERO'S ARCH (NERO'S COINAGE).' 



form of either originals or copies, or both, the whole of the 
documentary deeds concerning the history and administration 
of the Roman State (senatus-consulta, plebiscita, treaties of 
peace . . ..). The Tabularium suffered from the fire which broke 
out in the Capitol during the troubles of 69 A.D., and destroyed 
in particular the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Three thou- 
sand documents engraven on brass tables were consumed. 
Suetonius 4 relates that Vespasian had copies searched for 
everywhere, and that he succeeded in reconstituting them. 

The plan and interior arrangement of the Tabularium 
were some what irregular, the cause of the irregularity being 
twofold. Allowance had to be made for the pre-existing con- 
structions and approaches (temple of Concord, portico of the 
Dii Consentes, Clivus Capitolinus, Scalae Gemoniae), and also 

1 C.I.L., T. 592 ; VI. 1314. 2 C.I.L., I. 501 ; VI. 1313. 

3 Cf. the fragment still existing in the house bearing the number i of the Via 
dell' Arco di Settimio, See above, p. 22, 4 Sueton., Vestas., VIII. 



26 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



for the difference of level (which was considerable, averaging 
two yards and a half) existing between the Forum and the 
Capitoline platform. 

The Tabularium is trapezium-shaped. The two fronts towards 
the Forum and the Capitol (the modern facade, on the Piazza 
del Campidoglio, rests on the old wall of the Tabularium) 
measure ninety-three and a half and eighty-eight yards respec- 
tively, the two sides, forty-nine and a half yards. The two best 
preserved portions are those that face the Via del Campidoglio, 
and more especially the Forum. 

The entire edifice is constructed of peperino blocks, rather 
more than a yard long, and rather more than half a yard high, 
arranged alternately in the direction of the length and of the 
thickness. The Tabularium, properly so called, rests directly 
on the tufa of the hill. The facade towards the Forum, which has 
its bearings parallel to the temple of Concord and the portico of 
the Dii Consentes, is supported by a high substructure expressly 
mentioned (Substructio et Tabularium) in the dedicatory inscrip- 
tion of Q. Lutatius Catulus. This substructure was, from the 
first, concealed, to the north-east and south-west, by the temple 
of Concord and the portico of the Dii Consentes. Only the 
central part of it was visible from the Clivus Capitolinus. 

Behind the front wall, which is nearly four and a half yards 
thick, is a series of rooms built on a level with the Forum and 
communicating with each other by an arched passage. These 
rooms, the back walls of which were formed of the tufa of the 
hill, received their light by means of a row of windows, two feet 
wide, cut through the thick substructure. The first story was 
reached by mounting a staircase at the north-east extremity of 
the edifice. 

Above the substructure extends an arched gallery, nearly 
eight yards wide, and about eleven and a half high, which takes 
up the whole front of the Tabularium. Built at an intermediary 
level between those of the Forum and the Asylum, the gallery 
afforded issue at the two ends on the Clivus Capitolinus and the 
Scalae Gemoniae, thus establishing direct communication be- 
tween the Capitol and the Arx. The floor was paved with poly- 
gonal blocks of basalt, some remains of which were discovered 
in 1830. The entrance on the side of the Via del Campidoglio 
still exists to-day ; but the door at the other end of the gallery, 
on the site of the Via delP Arco di Settimio of the present time, 
has disappeared. 

Towards the Forum, this gallery opened in a series of arcades, 
eleven in all, which are now walled up, with a single exception. 
These arcades, eight and a quarter yards high, and about four 
wide, were supported by massive peperino pillars, with Doric 



he 



THE TABULARIUM 27 

columns let in to ornament them ; the capitals of the columns 
and the entablature were constructed in travertine. 
. The gallery was formerly surmounted by a second story, 
which presented a line of arcades symmetric to those of the 
first. This second story has been replaced by the modern 
constructions of the Senatorial palace. 

The inside arrangement of the Tabularium, as existing to-day, 
is complex ; and the use made of the various rooms cannot be 
determined with certainty. At the back of the arcade gallery 
which occupies the whole width of the first story, and parallel to 
it, extends, at a higher level, an arched hall, which subsequently 
to the construction of 78 B.C. (676 ab urbe condita) was 
divided, no doubt under the Empire, into two parts by a row of 
pillars running throughout the length of the building. This hall 
communicated at once with the arcade gallery of the first story 
and with the Forum : with the former, by means of an arched 
staircase, discovered in 1843, which was in the north-eastern 
part of the edifice, and had its issue in the gallery, opposite the 
single arcade that has remained open ; with the Forum, by means 
of a long staircase of sixty-seven steps, discovered in 1850. To 
this staircase access was obtained, on the side towards the Forum, 
by an arched door, still visible to-day, situated between the 
temple of Concord and the portico of the Dii Consentes. Under 
Domitian, at the time of the building of the temple of Vespasian, 
the hind part of which rests upon the substructure of the Tabu- 
larium, this door was walled up, and direct communication 
between the Tabularium and the Forum was thus intercepted. 

The north-east portion of the Tabularium, comprised between 
the staircase that connects the arcade gallery with the higher 
hall and the Via delP Arco di Settimio of to-day, is occupied by 
a suite of four rooms arranged perpendicularly to this latter, into 
which they used to open, at the same time communicating with 
each other. The first of these rooms, contiguous to the arcade 
gallery, contains a staircase, which leads to the ground floor and 
is utilisable by those going to the rooms built in the mass of the 
substructure. 

All of these rooms, as also the rooms symmetric to them 
towards the south-west, on the side of the Via del Campidoglio, 
— the latter have undergone a complete transformation — and the 
great hall situated at the back, constituted, in opposition to the 
substructure and the gallery of the facade, the Tabularium 
properly so called. 

Besides the Locus Saeptus, the temple of Vejovis and the 
Tabularium, which occupied the central and southern portions 
of the Asylum, there were on its slopes that gave access to the 
Capitol and the Arx a certain number of private houses. 



28 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Tacitus relates that, in 69 A.D., the partisans of Vitellius were 
able to reach the summit of the Capitol, owing to the houses that 
succeeded each other without interruption right up to the higher 
level of the hill. 1 One of the houses that stood to the north-east 
of the Asylum, on the slope of the Arx, was discovered in 1888, 2 
at the foot of the staircase leading from the Piazza del 
Campidoglio to the Santa Maria in Aracoeli church. In 
particular, it was possible to make out a marble-paved room. 
The walls and objects found bore traces of a fire. 

Other private nouses were built on the northern rear of the 
Asylum towards the Campus Martius, where the wall of Servius 
had long since fallen into ruins. 3 One of them was discovered 
in 1892, at the foot of the hill, in the lower part of the Via delle 
Tre Pile. Its construction was elegant, the walls being decor- 
ated with paintings, and the floor paved with mosaic. 4 



The Capitol — The Area Capitolina. 

The southern brow of the hill, the Capitol properly so called, 
was at once less lofty and more spacious than the Arx. Its sum- 
mit was occupied by an esplanade of regular form, the Area 
Capitolina (surface : about sixteen thousand five hundred square 
yards), whose bounds coincided with the edges themselves of the 
declivity. 

This Area Capitolina was mostly an artificial work. 5 When 
the Tarquins laid the foundations of the temple of Jupiter, they 
levelled the irregular summit of the hill throughout its extent ; 
then they covered the natural soil with a vast platform composed 
of quadrangular blocks of tufa. The limits of this substructure 
have been determined at two points : on the northern edge of 
the hill, above the Via Tor de' Specchi (this fragment measured 
27^ yards long and 14J yards high) ; 6 and, on the east, in 1875, 

1 Tacit., Hist., III. 71. 

2 Notiz. d. Scav., 1888, p. 497; Bull. Archeol. Com., 1858, p. 131. Cf. Ch. 
Huelsen, 1st yr. Topogr. Jahresber., loc. cit., 1889, p. 225. 

3 On the two fragments of the wall of Servius, found in 1872 and 1892, on the 
site of the Via delle Tre Pile, Bullet. Archeol. Com., 1873, p. 141 ; Notiz. d. Scavi, 
1890, p. 215 ; ""1892, p. 200 (cf. Ch. Huelsen, III (ir . Topog. Jahresber., Romisch. 
Mitth., 1893, p. 287) ; R. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, 
p. 64. 

4 Notiz. d. Scav., 1892, p. 229 ; Ch. Huelsen, loc. cit. 

5 Dionys. of Halic, III. 69 ; Tit. Liv., I. 38. On the substructure of the 
Capitol, see further on, pp. 41, 42. 

6 Ficoroni, Vestigie e Raritd di Roma antica, p. 42 ; H. Jordan, Topographie 
der Stadt Rom im Altertum, I. 2, p. 67, note 67 ; the blocks measured about 
om. 22c. by om. 88c. This substructure did not belong, as H. Jordan thinks, loc. 
cit., to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, but to the Area Capitolina. 



THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPIT0L1NUS 29 

at the top of the staircase giving access to the Piazza del 
Campidoglio, on the Via di Monte Tarpeio. 1 

The Area Capitolina, the centre of which was occupied by the 
temple of Jupiter, was surrounded, on its four sides, with an 
enclosing wall, 2 on which abutted a portico built in 159 B.C. 
(595 ab urbe condita) under the censorship of P. Cornelius 
Scipio Nasica and C. Popilius Laenas. 3 In this enclosure there 
were three gates : to the south-east, the Porta Pandana, which 
was always open and gave access to the higher portion of the 
Tarpeian Rock ; to the south-west, a gate of dimensions probably 
somewhat limited, which, by the staircase of the Centum Gradus, 
connected the Area Capitolina with the plain bordering on the 
Tiber ; and, last of all, to the north-east, the chief gate, 4 which 
gave issue to the single carriage road leading to the Capitol, the 
Clivus Capitolinus. In 69 A.D., at the time of the assault made 
on the Capitol by the soldiers of Vitellius, Sabinus blocked up 
the entrance by heaping there several statues of the Area 
Capitolina that had been taken from their pedestals. 5 This gate 
was closed at night. 6 A watchman 7 was stationed at it, in whose 
house Domitian succeeded in hiding himself. 8 Shortly after- 
wards, the house was pulled down to make room for the sanctuary 
of Jupiter Conservator, and later still for the temple of Jupiter 
Custos. 9 At the gate, also, dogs were kept as a guard. 10 

The Area Capitolina was adorned with a large number of 
edifices and monuments of every kind. The most important one 
was the great temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, to which a 
special notice is due. 



The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 

The temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was vowed, in the 
monarchical period, by Tarquin the Elder, during the w T ar against 

1 R. Lanciani, Bull. Atcheol. Com., 1875, p. 184. 

2 C.I.L., III. p. 852 (Military diploma of the year 74, IX, introeuntibus ad 
sinistram in inuro inter duos arcus). 

3 Veil. Patercul., II. 1. 1 ; 3. 1 : " Qui censor portions in Capitolio fecerat." 

4 Sueton., August., XC1V : Fores Capitolii ; Appian, Civil Wars, I. 16, says 
that the statues of the kings of Rome, placed on the Area Capitolina, were : " Kara 
tcls Ovpas." Tacit., Hist., Ill, 71 : " Ad primas Capitolinae arcis fores "; C.I.L., 
III. p. 852 (Military diploma of the year 74, IX, in Capitolio introeuntibus). 

5 Tacit., Hist., III. 71: " Ambustasque Capitolii fores penetrassent, in 
Sabinus revulsas undique statuas, decora majorum, in ipso aditu vice muri 
obfecisset." 

6 Aul. Gell., Attic Nights, VI. 1, 6. 7 Aul. Gell., loc. cit. 
8 Tacit., Hist., III. 74 ; Sueton., Domit., I. 9 Tacit., loc. cit. 

10 Cicero, pro Rose. Amer., XX. 50 : "Canes aluntur in Capitolio ut signifcent, 
si fures venerint." Aul. Gell., loc. lit. 



30 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the Sabines. 1 When he returned to Rome, the building was 
begun immediately after his triumph. Several sanctuaries, 
which, according to tradition, dated back to the reign of the 
Sabine king Titus Tatius, 2 occupied the site of the future temple. 
They were removed by virtue of a solemn exanguratio : " When 
he was about to commence the building of the temple," writes 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 3 " Tarquin assembled the Augurs, 
and asked them to declare, first of all, what site was most suit- 
able for the erection of the sanctuary and would be most agree- 
able to the gods. They designated the hill overlooking the 
Forum, then called the Tarpeian Mount and, subsequently, 
Mount Capitolinus. Tarquin proceeded to ask them to fix the 
exact site. This was not easy ; since, on the Capitol, there 
were numerous altars of gods and demi-gods, very near to each 
other, which it would be necessary to displace in order to make 
room for the new temple. The Augurs decided that, in the case 
of each already existing altar, the gods must be consulted and 
asked if they consented to the removal. The gods and demi- 
gods, with one or two exceptions, gave a favourable answer. 
Terminus 4 and Juventas 5 alone, although consulted by the 
Augurs in prolonged and urgent entreaties, refused to abandon 
their positions. Their altars were, therefore, preserved when 
the temple was built. At present, one of them stands in the 
pronaos of Athena, the other in the sanctuary itself, not far from 
the statue. The Augurs concluded from this fact that the 
frontiers of the Roman state would be immutable, and that 
nothing would ever be able to weaken the vigorous youth of the 
people of Rome/' 

At the very beginning of the work, enormous difficulties were 
met with. The soil was of irregular formation, the natural tufa 
being cracked and friable. The whole of the ground had to be 
levelled and an artificial platform constructed, intended to 
support the edifice : " The hill on which the new temple was 
to be built," writes Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6 further, "was 
neither of easy approach nor yet of uniform level ; it was steep 
and culminated in a sharp peak. Tarquin surrounded it on all 
sides with lofty substructures, and filled in the space between 

1 Tit. Liv., I. 38 : " Aede7ii in Capitolio Jovis quam voverat bello Sabino ..." 
Dionys. of Halic., III. 69: " 'Ei/exetp^cre 8e /cat tov veiov /caracr/ceva^eii/ tov re 
Albs Kal Trjs'Hpas kclI ttjs 'A^Tjj/as o ^acriAev? ouro? ev^V^ cnroSidovs r\virep eTroirjaaTO 
Tots ©eots Iv Tjj TeAevrcua 7rpos 2aj3tVovs /ua^r/ " ; Cicero, De Repub., II. 20. 36 ; 
Plutarch, Publicol, XIV. ; Tacit., Hist., III. 72. 

2 Tit. Liv., I. 55. 3 Dionys. of Halic, III. 69. 

4 Cato (quoted by Festus, 162); Ovid, Fast., II. 665; Serv., ad Aeneid., IX. 
448 ; Tit. Liv., I. 55, speak only of Terminus. 

5 The sanctuary of Juventas is mentioned only by this text of Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus. Saint Augustine mentions likewise— but the fact is doubtful — a 
sanctuary of Mars {City of God, IV. 23). 

6 Dionys. of Halic, III. 69. 



THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS 31 

these and the top with a thick stratum of earth, thus levelling 
the hill and rendering the building of the temple possible.' 51 

These labours occupied the last four years of the reign of 
Tarquin the Elder, 2 and they were probably continued under 
that of Senilis Tullius. 3 Tarquin the Proud devoted to the 
erection of the edifice the important booty (according to Piso, 
40,000 pounds of silver ; according to Fabius Pictor, 40 talents 
= 225,200 francs, a figure which Titus Livy deems more likely) 
which he had captured from the Volscian town of Suessa 
Pometia. 4 In addition, Tarquin forced the plebeians to supply 
the labour. 5 

But the sums available were hardly sufficient for the laying of 
the foundations. 6 The work had to be slackened, without being 
entirely interrupted. Tarquin the Proud sent for carpenters 
from Etruria. 7 The quadriga and the statues of the pediment, 
in terra cotta, were ordered from Etruscan artists at Veii. 8 The 
edifice was almost completed in 509 B.C. (245 ab urbe condita) 
when Tarquin was expelled from Rome. It seems that the 
decoration only was unfinished. " The temple of Jupiter," says 
Plutarch, 9 " was almost completed, when Tarquin, either in 
obedience to an oracle or of his own accord, determined to 
place on its summit a quadriga in terra cotta, the execution of 
which was entrusted to Etruscan workmen at Veii. Shortly 
after, he was driven from the throne. When the quadriga was 
modelled, the workmen put it into the oven to bake, but the clay, 
instead of shrinking and condensing through evaporation of its 
moisture, as is usually the case when it is put into a furnace, 
grew larger, swelled, and formed a mass so bulky, so heavy, and 
so hard, that the vault and sides of the oven had to be demolished 
in order to extract it, a task which was only accomplished with 

1 Tit. Liv., VI. 4, apropos of the repairs in 388 B.C. (366 ab urbe condita), says of 
the substructures of the Capitol : " O/us vel in hac magnijicentia urbis con- 
spiciendum" ; Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXVI. 104:" Substructioiies insanas Capitoli 
mirabantur." 

2 Tit. Liv., I. 38: " Aream . . .jam praesagiente animo futuram olim 
ampliticdinem loci occupat fundamentis ." Dionys. of Halic, III. 69 : " T01/9 
Oefxe^Covs ovk. e<£0acre Qelvat rov veto XP° V0V e7ri/3itocras fxcra rrjv KaraXvaiv rov 
irokefxov TeTpaeTrj." Plutarch, PublicoL, XIV. ; Tacit., Hist., III. 72: " Jecerat 

fundamenta spe magis ficturae magnitudinis quam quo modicae adhuc pofiuli 
Romani res sujjficerent." 

3 Tacit., loc. cit. : " Mox Servius Tullius* sociorwn studio, dein Tarquinius 
Sttperbus . . . exlrujrere." 

4 Tit. Liv., I. 55, 7 : " Pometinae manubiae" ', Tacit., Hist., III. 72 : " Cafita 
Suessa Pometia hostium spoliis " ; Dionys. of Halic, IV. 59-61. 

Tit. Liv., I. 56, 1 : " Non pecunia soltim ad id public a est usus, sed operis etiam 
ex plebe" ; Cicero, Verr., 19, 48: " Capitolium, sicut apud majores nosiros 
factum est, publice coactis fabris operisqtce imperatis, gratis exaedijicari atque 
effici potmt." 6 Tit. Liv., I. 55. 

7 Tit. Liv., I. 58 : " Fabris undique ex Etruria accitis." 

8 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXV. 157 ; Festus, p. 174 ; Plutarch, PublicoL, XIII. 

9 Plutarch, PublicoL, XIII. 



32 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

great difficulty. The soothsayers having declared that the car 
would bring luck to whatever people possessed it, the Veians 
resolved not to give it to the Romans who had ordered it. They 
replied, therefore, that it belonged to Tarquin personally, and 
not to those who had expelled him. 

"Some time after, they held a chariot race with the usual 
pomp and magnificence. When the games were over, the 
victor, who had just been crowned, drove his car slowly towards 
the exit, intending to quit the course. Suddenly the horses took 
fright, without any visible cause, and, either by mere chance 
or by divine impulsion, ran at full speed towards Rome. The 
charioteer did his utmost, both with hand and voice, to stop 
them m their career. Seeing that his efforts were useless, he 
abandoned them to their impetuosity and was carried to the foot 
of the Capitol, where the horses overthrew the vehicle and its 
occupant near the gate to-day bearing the name of Ratumena. 
The Veians, surprised and frightened at this event, allowed the 
workmen to deliver the car to the Romans." 
» The dedication of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was per- 
formed with solemnity, in the year following the expulsion of the 
kings, on the day of the Ides of September (13th of September), 
509 B.C. (245 ab urbe condita), by the acting consul, M. Horatius 
Pulvillus. 1 

The ceremony of the dedication is described by Plutarch : 2 
"When the temple was finished and decorated with suitable 
magnificence, Publicola was very desirous of performing the 
consecration ; several of the first citizens of Rome envied him 
this prerogative. They had seen without jealousy the glory he 
had justly acquired by his laws and his victories ; but not 
believing that he was entitled to this new honour, they urged 
Horatius to claim it. At that moment, a war broke out which 
obliged Publicola to march at the head of the army. Those 
that envied him, conscious that it would not be easy for them to 
gain their point, if he were in Rome, contrived that, in his 
absence, the people should decree the dedication of the temple 
by Horatius; and, forthwith, they conducted him to the 
Capitol. It is said by some that, the consuls having drawn lots, 
the command of the army fell to Publicola, and the consecration 
of the temple to Horatius. What had previously passed between 
them may be gathered, however, from what happened on the 
day of the ceremony. On the day of the Ides of September, all 
the people had assembled at the Capitol in profound silence. 

1 Tit._ Liv., II. 8; VII. 3: "Horatius consul ex le^e templum Jovis optimi 
maximi dedicavit anno post reges exactos" Polyb., III. 22 ; Dionys of Halic 
X; ? 5; Tacit., Hist., III. 72 ; Plutarch, Publico!., XIV. : Valer. Max., V. 10, 1' 
Cf. Vhn.,Hist. Nat., XXXIII. 19 1 Publico?. XIV. 






THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPIT0L1NUS 33 

After accomplishing all the other ceremonies, Horatius had al- 
ready seized one of the gates of the temple, and was about to 
pronounce the solemn prayer of consecration, when Valerius, 
Publicola's brother, who had been waiting for a long time near 
the gate of the temple, and was prepared for this opportunity, 
said to him : ' Consul, your son has just died of sickness in the 
camp. ; All those present were afflicted by the news ; but 
Horatius, without letting himself be unnerved, contented himself 
with replying : ' Cast his body where you please ; as for me, I 
shall not go into mourning ; J and he finished the consecration. 
The news was false, and Valerius had fabricated it to prevent 
the completion of the ceremony. On this occasion, Horatius 
showed admirable firmness, either that he had, at once, detected 
the stratagem of Valerius, or that, believing the news to be 
true, he had not experienced the least emotion." 

The temple of the Tarquins remained in existence, under the 
Republic, until 83 B.C. (671 ab urbe condita). In the course of 
these four centuries, it was constantly embellished, notably in 
296 B.C. (458 ab urbe condita) by the Curule Aediles, Q. and 
Cn. Ogulnii ; x and in 142 B.C. (612 ab urbe condita), under the 
censorship of Scipio Aemilianus and C. Mummius Achaius ; 2 
and in 179 B.C. (575 ab urbe condita) important repairs were 
carried out, under the censorship of M. Aemilius Lepidus and 
M. Fulvius Nobilior. 3 But the whole of the structure continued 
to be intact. 

On the 6th of July, 83 B.C. (671 ab urbe condita), under the 
consulship of L. Scipio and Cn. Norbanus, the edifice was 
burnt to the ground, probably through the negligence of the 
keepers. 4 After his final victory over the party of Marius in 
82 B.C. (672 ab urbe condita), Sylla undertook the rebuilding 
of the temple. 5 The work was pushed on with great activity. 6 
After Sylla's death, Q. Lutatius Catulus, who was consul in 
78 B.C. (676 ab urbe condita), was authorised by the Senate, in 
his character of" Curator reficiendi Capitolii? 7 to continue the 

l Tit. Liv., X. 23. 2 piin., Hist. Nat., XXXIII. 57. 3 Tit. Liv., XL. 51. 

4 The year is indicated by Cicero, Catilin., III. 419 ; Sallust, Catilin., XLVII. ; 
Dionys. of Halic, IV. 62; Tacit., Hist., II T. 72: " L. Scipione C. Norbauo 
consulibzis" ; the day by Plutarch, Syll., XXVII. Dionys. of Halic, toe. cit.', 
Tacit., loc. cit. ; Appian, Civil Wars, I. 86 (with reservations), attribute this fire 
to malevolence ; Dion Cassius, fragm. CVI. 2, to lightning; Cassiodorus, ad a7in. 
671, and Obsequens, 57, to the negligence of the keepers. 

5 Tac, Hist., III. 72: " Ctiram victor Sulla suscepit neque tameu dedicavit." 
Plutarch, Publicol, XV. ; Valer. Max., IX. 3-8. 

6 Valer. Max., loc. cit. : "Sylla, enragad to see that Granius, the first magistrate 
of Puteoli, where he rhen was, did not hasten to give him the money promised by 
the decurions of this colony for the restoration of the Capitol, went into such a fit of 
anger and shouted so loudly that he burst a blood-vessel in his chest, and expired." 

7 Varro, quoted by Aul. Gell., Attic Nights, II. 10: ''(?. Catulus, ctirator 
reficie7idi Capitolii." 

D 



34 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

undertaking. Nine years later, in 69 B.C. (685 ab urbe condita), 
Catulus proceeded solemnly to the dedication. 1 In 46 B.C. (708 
ab urbe condita) the Senate decided to substitute the name of 
Caesar for that of Catulus on the dedicatory inscription ; but 
the decree was not carried into execution : the name of Catulus 
was retained. 2 

The temple was twice struck by lightning, in 65 B.C. (689 ab 
urbe condita) 3 and in 9 B.C. (745 ab urbe condita). 4 Augustus 
repaired it without placing any inscription on it in his name. 5 
In 69 A.D., at the time of the assault made on the Capitol by the 
partisans of Vitellius, the temple was burnt for the second time. 
Tacitus 6 thus describes the event : " It is doubtful whether it was 
the besiegers or the besieged who lighted the fire. The most 
common opinion is that the besieged set fire to these edifices, 
to repulse those who were ascending or were already at the 
top. The flames gained the porticoes that ran round the temple; 
soon the eagles supporting the summit caught fire, the wood 
being old, and furnished fresh material to the conflagration. 
Thus perished the Capitol, with closed doors, and without any 
one defending it, or yet pillaging it." 

Vespasian, on becoming Emperor, at once took measures for 
the rebuilding of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The work 
was begun in 70 a.d. " On the eleventh day from the Kalends 
of July ( = 2istof June)," writes Tacitus, 7 "under a cloudless sky, 
the whole space consecrated to the temple was hung round with 
wreaths and bandlets. Soldiers, bearing lucky names, entered 
the enclosure with boughs of favourable augury. The Vestal 
virgins, accompanied by young boys and girls whose parents 
were still living, sprinkled water from fresh springs and rivers. 
Then the praetor Helvidius Priscus, led by the pontiff Plautus 
Helianus, purified the ground by offering a sacrifice ; and, the 
victims' entrails having been placed on an altar of grass-turf, he 
besought Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and the tutelary gods of the 
Empire, to second the enterprise and to raise, by their divine 
assistance, this dwelling commenced for them by the piety of 

1 Tit. YAv.,Perioch. , 98 : " Templum Jovis in Capitolio quodincendio consumption 
ac refectum erat a Q. Catulo dedicatum est." Cassiodor., ad ann. 685 ; Tacit., 
Hist., III. 72; Plutarch, Publicol., XV.; Phlegon, Fragm. Hist. Graec. (Edit. 
C. Miiller, III. p. 606). 

2 Dion Cass., XLTI. 14; Tac, Hist., III. 72: " Lutatii Catuli nomen, inter 
tanta Caesarum opera, usque ad Vitellium mansit." 

3 Cicero, Catilin., III. 8-19. 

4 Dion Cass., LV. 1. 

5 Res Gest. Div. Aug., 4-9: " Capitolium . . . impensa grandi refeci sine 
ulla inscriptione no minis mei. " 

6 Tacit., Hist., III. 71; Stat., Silv., V. 3, pp. 195-599. 

7 Tac, Hist., IV. 53; Dion Cass., LXVI. 10; Sueton., VcsJ>as., VIII.; Aurel. 
Victor, Caesar, 9-7; Plutarch. Publicol., XV. ; Chrotiicle of Saint Jerome, ad aim. 
Abrah. 2089. 



THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS 35 

men. Afterwards he touched the bandlets attached to the first 
stone and interlaced with cords. At the same time the other 
magistrates, the priests, the Senate, the equestrian order and a 
great part of the people, emulating each other in their efforts 
and their joy, dragged the enormous stone to its place. Into 
the foundations were thrown pieces of gold and silver and lumps 
of metal ore which no furnace had yet reduced." When the 
clearing took place, Vespasian insisted on himself carrying 
away on his back some of the stones. 1 The dedication was 
performed in the Emperor's lifetime, probably about 75 A.D. 

Very few years after the completion of the edifice, in 80 A.D., 
under Titus, a great fire devastated the Campus Martius and 
the region of the Circus Flaminius. The fire gained the Capitol, 
and, for the third time, the temple was destroyed. 2 Titus at 
once set about rebuilding it ; and, on the 7th day from the 
Ides of December (7th of December), 80 A.D., the Arvales 
assembled in the temple of Ops, on the Capitol, in order to 
make solemn vows in favour of the new temple. 3 Titus died 
some months later. The work was continued and completed 
by Domitian ; 4 and the dedication seems to have been per- 
formed a year after the death of Titus, in 82 A.D. Coins were 
struck in Asia Minor with the legend : " Capitolium Resti- 
tutum." This reconstruction was destined to be the last. 
Domitian's temple remained standing until the end of the 
Empire. 

The first temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, that of the Tarquins, 
which was represented in the last century of the Republic on 
a coin of M. Volteius, 5 the monetary triumvir about 88 B.C. 
(666 ab urbe condita), was a hexastyle edifice of the Tuscan 
order, with three rows of columns in the front and a single row 
at the sides. The posterior portion of the building, to the north- 
west, was bare of columns. The temple, resting on a deep 

1 Sueton. , Vespas., VIII : " Ipse (Vespasiantis) restittitiouent Capitolii aggressus. 
ruderibus purgattdis, mantis primus admovit ac stio collo quaedam extulit. . . .'' 

2 Dion Cass., LXVI. 24 : " Tov re vewv rov KaTrtrtoAtov /j-era toov avvvdoiv olvtov 
KOLTeKavaev" ; Plutarch, Publico!. XV. ; Sueton., Do:nit., V. VIII. 

3 C. T.L., VI. 2059, p. 507, 10: ' M. Tillio Frugi T. Vinisio Juliano coss.{=%o 
A.d) VIII Id. Decent, in Capitol io in aedetn Opis convenerunt ad rota ntincti- 
panda ad restitutiottem et dedicationem Capitolii ab imp{eratore) T(ito) Caesare 

Vespasiano A tigitisto}." 

4 Plutarch, PtiblicoL, XV. : " 'O Se rerapro^ ovrog vtto Ao/jlctiolvov kolI avveTe\4a6r\ 
k'j.1 KaOLepojOr}.'' Sueton., Dotttit., V. : " Plurima et antplissima opera incendio 
abstimpta {Domitianus) restituit, in quis et Capitolitim quod rtirsus arserat, sed 
omnia sub titulo tanttim suo ac sine tilla pristini atictoris memorial Suetonius, 
id. VIII. , relates, moreover, that Domitian ordered his soldiers to destroy a tomb that 
one of his freed slaves was said to have raised to his son with stones intended for the 
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and that he had the ashes and bones found in it thrown 
into the sea. 

5 E. Babelon, Historical and Chronological Description of the Buildings 0/ the 
Roman Republic^ French), Paris, 1885, II. p. 565, CLXXXI. Volteia (No. 1). 

D 2 



36 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

basement, inside which were a series of subterraneous chambers 
(favissae), was of massive form, nearly square, lhe pillars were 
thick, low, and wide apart. The pediment, supported on an 
architrave of wood, was surmounted in the centre by a quadriga, 
and, on the sides, by statues in terra cotta, one of which was 
that of Jupiter Summanus. 1 In 296 B.C. (458 ab urbe condita) 
the Curule Aediles, Q. and Cn. Ogulnii, with the proceeds of fines 
imposed on usurers, replaced the terra cotta quadriga by a 
bronze one, 2 ornamented with a statue of Jupiter wearing a 
crown. 3 Later, the statue of Jupiter Summanus, which had 
been struck by lightning, was replaced by a bronze statue. 4 The 
tympanum of the pediment was ornamented with reliefs of 
which we have no certain knowledge. The coins of Volteius 
show only a winged thunderbolt, 5 but most likely the represen- 
tation is incomplete. The temple was repaired in 179 B.C. 
(575 ab urbe condita), under the censorship of M. Aemilius 
Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior : the pillars, in addition, were 
whitened and polished. 

The interior comprised three cellae, with parallel arrangement 
in the direction of the length, and covered with one roof for the 
three. 7 In the centre was the cella of Jupiter, which was the 
principal one ; to the west (in the direction of Tiber) was that of 
Minerva ; to the east (in the direction of the Asylum) that of 
Juno. The three cellae were entered through three bronze 
doors, the middle one, leading to the cella of Jupiter, being 
larger than the two others. These are represented on the coins 
of M. Volteius, 8 and on the bass-reliefs of the Museum 
of the Conservators and the Museum of the Louvre, which 
will be spoken of further on. The floor from about 150 
B.C. (604 ab urbe condita) was covered with white mosaic, 9 
the first that had been seen in Rome. The threshold was in 
bronze from the time of the Curule Aedileship of Q. and Cn. 
Ogulnii, 296 B.C. (458 ab urbe condita). 10 The wainscoting of the 

1 Cicero, de Divinat., I. 10-16 : "Cum Summanus in fastioio Jovis ofitimi 
maximi qtii turn erat fictilis, e caelo ictus esset. ..." Cf. Tit. Liv., Pei'ioch., 14. 
a Tit. Liv., X. 23. 

3 Plaut., Trinum77i., 83 : ; ' Si te surripuisse suspicet Jovi coronam de capite ex 
Capitolio, quod, i?i columine aestat summo" ', id., Men., 941 : " At ego te sacram 
coronam surripuisse Jovi." 

4 See above, note 1. 5 E Babelon, loc. cit. 

6 Tit. Liv., XL. 51 : " M. Aemilius Lepidus . . . aedem Jovis in Capitolio 
columnasque circa poliendas albo locavit et ab his colu77inis qiiae inco77t77iode 
opposita videbantur signa a77iovit clipeaque de .columnis et signa 77iilitaria affixa 
077inis generis dempsit" 

7 Dionys. of Halic, IV. 61. Cf Tit. Liv., VI. 29 ; VII. 38 ; X. 23, etc. ; Plin., 
Hist. Nat., XXXIV. ; Valer. Maxim., VIII. 15. 1 ; Seneca, Epist., 95, 75, etc. 

8 See above, p. 35, note 5. 

y Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXVI. 185: " Scutulatu77i i7i Jovis CapitoWii aede 
pri77iU77ifactu77i est." 

10 Tit. Liv., X. 23: " Cn. et Q. Oguhiii aediles curule s . . . aenea in Capitolio 
h'77iina . . . posuer?tnt." 



THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPIT0L1NUS 37 

ceiling was gilded in 142 B.C. (612 ab urbe condita), 1 under the 
censorship of Scipio Aemilianus and L. Mummius Achaius. 
The roof was covered with bronze tiles. 

At the furthest end of the three cellae were the altars and 
statues of the three divinities. The statue of Jupiter, a terra 
cotta one similar to those of the pediment, the face of which 
was painted vermilion on feast days, was the work of an 
Etruscan artist from Veii. The ancient statues 2 of Terminus and 
Juventas, which the rites had not allowed to be removed, were 
inside the temple. The altar of Juventas was in the cella of 
Minerva, that of Terminus in the Pronaos. As the worship of 
Terminus had to be celebrated in the open air, an aperture had 
been made in the temple roof. 3 

Inside the temple of Jupiter were numerous works of art, 
being gifts of kings and 

foreign peoples, magistrates ^r- ^~~~" 

and triumphing victors. Of 

the statues, two were of / ~ : F? "Vf* } 

Jupiter, one being placed K : /• * 

between the cellae of \ -/ 

Jupiter and Minerva; it - >.J 

had been previously at -~~** 

Praeneste, and was dedi- FIG - 3-— temple of jupiter 

cated in 380 B.C. (374 ab capitolinus (coins of m. 

urbe condita) by the dictator volteius). 

T. Quinctius ; 4 the other 

had been brought from Macedonia by T. Quinctius Flaminius ; 5 
there was also a statue of Scipio Africanus 6 in the cella of 
Jupiter. Then there were golden Victories, one of which had 
been dedicated in 216 B.C. (538 ab urbe condita) by Hiero of 
Syracusa--; 7 shields that were fastened to the pillars— a great 
number of them being removed in the course of the alterations 
in 179 B.C. (575 ab urbe condita) ; 8 golden crowns, dedicated by 
those who had triumphed, or else by foreign peoples ; for 
instance, Mamercus Aemilius, dictator in 437 B.C. (317 ab urbe 
condita) ; 9 T. Quinctius, dictator in 380 B.C. (374 ab urbe con- 

1 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIII. 57 : " Laquearia, quae mine et infriyatis domibus 
auro teguntur, primo in Capitolio inaurata sunt censura L. Mummi." 

2 Plin., Hist. Nat , XXXIII. 57. Cf. XXXIII. III. 

3 Dionys. of Halic, III. 69 (cf. p. 30, above). 

4 Tit. Liv., VI. 29. 

5 Cicero, Verr., IV. 58, 129. 

6 Valer. Maxim., VIII. 15. 1: "{Scipio Africanus) imaginem in cella Jovis 
optimi maximi positam /iabet." 

7 Tit. Liv., XXV. 37. This Victory weighed 220 pounds. 

8 Id., XL. 51. See above, p. 33. 

9 Tit. Liv., IV. 20: "Mamercus Aemilius coronam auream libram pondo ex 
pnblica pecunia populi jussu in Capitolio Jovi donum posuit. ,, 'Cf, XXV. 39 ; 
XXXVIII. 35 ; Plin., Hist. Nat,, XXXV. 14. 



38 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

dita) ; 1 the Hernici, in 449 B.C. (305 ab urbe condita) ; 2 the Cartha- 
ginians, in 343 B.C. (411 ab urbe condita) ; 3 Philip of Macedon, in 
161 B.C. (563 ab urbe condita) ; 4 pictures : one of them repre- 
sented the surrender of Jugurtha. 5 

A treasure was placed under the spot where the statue of 
Jupiter stood. 6 The younger Marius carried it off to Praeneste 
in 62 B.C. (672 ab urbe condita) ; 7 Sylla, after his victory, 
brought it back to Rome. Inside the temple, also, the Sibylline 
books were kept ; 8 and, last of all, various objects of art were 
deposited in the favissae of the foundations. 9 

In 70 A.D., at the time of the second reconstruction of the 
temple, there was some question of modifying the plan of the 
ancient edifice. The matter was submitted to the Haruspices. 
Tacitus 10 writes : "The Haruspices ordered the ruins of the old 
temple to be transported into the marshes, and a new temple to be 
built on the same site, adding that the gods were not willing that 
anything should be changed in the plan. . . . The height was 
increased, this being the only alteration religion seemed able to 
permit and the only magnificence that appeared to be lacking 
in the ancient edifice." It should be added that, in the new 
building, the Corinthian order was substituted for the Tuscan. 
The temples of Vespasian and Domitian remained hexastyle, as 
those of the Tarquins and Q. Lutatius Catulus had been. 

The temple, as reconstructed in 78 B.C. (676 ab urbe condita) 
by Q. Lutatius Catulus, is represented on a coinage of Petillius 
Capitolinus, 11 who was monetary triumvir in 43 B.C. (711 ab urbe 
condita), with its facade of six columns, its pediment ornamented 
with reliefs (in the centre, Rome sitting on shields ; on the right, 
the She-Wolf and the Twins ; on the right and on the left, 
birds), and surmounted, in the centre, by the quadriga of 
Jupiter ; on the sides, by statues of Minerva and Juno, and by 
two acroteria. The roof was supported by wooden eagles, 12 
mentioned above in connection with the fire of 69 A.D. The 
doors of the cellae, hidden by three shields that hung between 
the central pillars, are not visible on the coins of Petillius 

1 Festus, p. 363 : " T. Quinctius trientem terthim pondo coronam auream dedisse 
se Jovi donum scrips it." 

2 Tit. Liv., V. 37. . ^ Id., VII. 38. 

4 Id., XXXVI. 34; cf. also XLIII. 6. Other offerings are mentioned by Titus 
Livy, XXIX. 38 (gold quadriga), XXXVIII. 35 (a gilded car with six horses 
harnessed to it), etc. 

5 Plutarch, Mar., XXXII. 

6 Tit. Liv., V. 50; Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIII. 14-16. This treasure originally 
comprised 2,000 pounds of gold. 

7 Appian, Civil Wars, 87. 8 Dionys. of Halic, IV. 62. 

9 Aul. Gel., Attic Nights, II. 10. 2. 

10 Tacit., Hist., IV. 53. 

n E. Babelon, loc cit., II. pp. 291-292, No. CXXII. Pctillia (Nos. 1-4). 
13 Tacit., Hist., III. 71. 



THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS 39 

Capitolinus. The bronze tiles that covered the roof were gilded 
by Catulus. 1 

Fresh offerings had replaced, in the interior of the building, 
those that had been consumed in the fire of 83 B.C. (671 ab urbe 
condita) : of the statues — a statue of Apollo, the work of 
Calamis, brought from Apollonia in Asia Minor, and consecrated 
in 71 B.C. (683 ab urbe condita) by Lucullus; 2 a statue of 
Theseus by Parrhasius ; 3 a boy's statue, dedicated in 75 B.C. 
(679 ab urbe condita); 4 a statue of Minerva, 5 consecrated by 
Cicero in 58 B.C. (666 ab urbe condita) ; two busts, dedicated in 
57 B.C. (696 ab urbe condita) by the consul P. Cornelius Lentulus 
Spinther ; 6 the statue of Jupiter, by Myron, consecrated by 
Augustus ; 7 a quadriga and a Victory, consecrated in 42 B.C. 
(712 ab urbe condita) by 
the consul C. Munatius 
Plancus; 8 some pieces of 
gold plate ; 9 a collection of 
engraven stones, being part 
of the booty captured from 
Mithridates and offered by 
Pompey the Great ; 10 bronze 
tables containing treaties FIG - 4.— temple of jupiter 
and other public document- capitolinus (coins of 

ary deeds/* The _ seated petillius capitolinus). 

statue, which occupied the 

furthest end of the cella of Jupiter, was in gold, ivory, and 
marble. 12 Last of all, the Sibylline books had been reconstituted 
and replaced in the subterraneous chambers of the temple. 13 

The representation of Vespasian's temple on his coinage 14 is 
similar ; but the edifice is in the Corinthian style. The pedi- 
ment was adorned with reliefs, representing, in the centre, the 

1 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIII. 57: '''Cum varie stta aetas de Catulo existi- 
maverit, quod tegulas aereas Capitolii inaurasset." Cf. Seneca, Controv., I. 
6. 4 : ' ' Fastigatis supra tectis auro puro fulgens praelucet Capitolium " ; id., II. 
1. 1.: "In aura turn Capitolium" 

2 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 39: "In Capitolio Apollo tralatus a M. Lucullo 
ex Apollonia Pouti urbe XXX cubit oruiii" Strab., VII. 6. 1. 

3 Plin., Hist. Nat , XXXV. 69. 4 Festus, p. 262. 

5 Dion Cass., XXXVIII. 17 ; XLV. 17; Obseq., 68. 

6 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 44. 7 Strab., XIV. 14. 

8 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXV. 108: " In Capitolio quam Plancus imperator 
posuerat, victoria quadri°am in sublime rapieus." 

9 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXVII. 18, etc. Various gifts, made by the Emperors, are 
mentioned by Suetonius, Tiber., LIII. ; Calig., XVI. ; Nero, X. XII. XIV. ; Tacit., 
Ann., XV. 74. etc. 

10 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXVII. 11. « Cicero, Catilin., III. 19. 

12 Chalcid., ad Plat. Tim., 336; Varro (quoted by Non., p. 162): Josephus, 
Antiq. ofthejezvs, XIX. i, 2. 

1:3 Lactant., de Ira Dei, XXII. 6; Fenestella, Instil., 1, 16, 14. 

14 H. Cohen, loc. cit., 2nd edit., I., Vespasian, Nos. 486-493. See pp. 46-47. 



40 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Capitoline triad, Jupiter, seated, holding a sceptre, Minerva 
and Juno standing, on his right and left ; on either side of the 
central group were two groups of men (the Cyclops) striking on 
their anvil. The summit was surmounted by a quadriga, in the 
centre, and by two bigae and by eagles as acroteria. The 
Haruspices had forbidden the edifice to be profaned with gold 
or stones intended for another usage. Among the offerings, 
Pliny 1 mentions crowns in cinnamon-wood, ornamented with 
gold, which were given by Vespasian. 

Last of all, Domitian's temple, the one which existed till the 
end of the Empire, is represented on the coinage of this Emperor 2 
and on three bass-reliefs. One of these bass-reliefs, taken from 
the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, is to-day preserved in the Museum 
of the Conservators, at Rome ; 3 the second is in the Museum of 
the Louvre (the pediment is wanting) ; 4 the third, which, in the 
sixteenth century, was in the Vatican Library, has to-day 
disappeared ; but four designs of it remain, which were executed 
in the sixteenth century : 5 one is in the Coburg Library ; 6 
a second, taken from Fulvio Orsini's Library, is preserved in 
the Vatican Library ; a third was sketched about the end of 
the sixteenth century by a Rheims sculptor, in the course of a 
journey made to Rome ; 7 and a fourth is by Piranesi. 8 

Of all these representations, the most exact and the most 
authentic is given by the design of the Coburg Library. The 
facts that are certain are the following. The temple, as 
reconstructed by Domitian, was hexastyle, like the previous 
temples. The pediment, as in Vespasian's temple, was sur- 
mounted by a quadriga, in the centre ; w r ith two bigae and with 
statues, at the sides (one representing Mars with the spear, 
another, Minerva). The reliefs of the tympanum represented : 
in the centre, the Capitoline triad, Jupiter seated, Minerva and 
Juno standing. On either side, the two cars of the Sun and 
the Moon converge towards the central group ; two groups of 
three men (Vulcan and the Cyclops) are striking on their anvil ;, 

1 Hist. Nat., XII. 94 : "Coronas ex ciiina7tio in terrasili auro inclusas primus 
omnium in templis Cafiitolii atqtie Pads dicavit imfterator Vespasianus 
Augustus." 

2 H. Cohen, loc. cit., Domitian, Nos. 8^-90; id., No. 23 

3 Bartoli, Admir. Rom. Antiq., PI. IX. ; Righetti, Mus. d. Campidoglio, I. 68 ; 
Monum. del? Institut. di Corrisp. Archeol., V. PL XXXVI. 

4 Clarac, Museum of Ancient and Modern Sculpture (in French), II. 1, 732 
(cf. Plates II. 151, 300). 

5 As to these designs, see especially Aug. Audollent, Unpublished Design of the 
Pediment of the Temple of Jupiter Capitoliuus fin French), Miscellanies of the 
French Schoolin Rome, IX. 18-89, pp. 120-133 ; Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionary 
of Greek and Roinan Antiquities (in French), article " Capitolium" (t. 1st, 2nd 
part, C, pp. 901-906). 

6 Reproduced by M. Schultze, Archeol. Zeituno, 1872, PI. LVII (cf. Daremberg 
and Saglio, loc. cit., p. 904, Fig. 1151) 7 Aug. Audollent, loc. cit. 

8 Piranesi, Magnificenza ed Architettura dei Romani, PI. CXCVIII. 





THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS 41 

there are some subordinate figures ; at the feet of Jupiter, a 
young man upright (Ganymede ?) ; at the feet of Minerva, 
Hercules ; and, on the right, near Juno, a man and a woman, 
probably Aesculapius and Vesta. In the corners are two recum- 
bent divinities : the Tiber and, probably, the Earth. 

The new edifice transcended in magnificence all those that 
had preceded it. The columns were of white marble, Pentelican, 
and fluted ; they came from Athens, where Plutarch asserts he 
had seen them. 1 In order to fit them for their new destination, 
they were rehewn in Rome. "This second treatment," says 
Plutarch again, "gave them less elegance than it took from their 
symmetry ; by tapering them too much, the masons deprived 
them of all their beauty." The three doors 2 giving access to the 
cellae, and the tiles of the 
roof 3 were of gilded bronze. 
The whole of the structure, 
according to Plutarch, had 
cost more than two thousand 
talents (66,720,000 francs). 4 
Later, Trajan had his statue 
in the Pronaos 5 of the temple. 

In the middle ages, the *kj. 5.— temple of jupiter 
temple of Jupiter completely capitolinus (coins of 

disappeare d. Even the petillius capitolinus). 

memory of its ancient site 

was lost. A great number of writers who, from the sixteenth 
century downwards, treated of the topography of the Capitoline 
hill, placed the temple of Jupiter on the northern summit of 
the Capitol, and considered the southern summit as the Arx. 
The excavations carried out on the Capitol on the site of the 
Palazzo Caffarelli and the museum of the Conservators, in 1865 6 
and 1875-1878/ and completed by some posterior discoveries 
(notably in 1896, Via di Monte Tarpeio) 8 have allowed of the 
question being definitely settled. 

The eastern and western limits of the substructures on which 
the temple was raised have been able to be determined owing 
to the discoveries of 1865 (the garden of the Caffarelli Palace : 
the western limit), of 1875 ( tne Museum of the Conservators : 
the eastern limit), and of 1896 (Via di Monte Tarpeio : south- 

1 Plutarch, Publico!, XV. 2 Zosim., 'la-ropta Nea, V. 38. 

3 Procop., War. Vandal., I. 5. * Plutarch., Publico!, loc. cit. 

5 Plin. the Youn., Panegyr. ofTraj., 52 : "In v'estibulo Jovis optimi majcimi." 

6 Rosa, Annal. deir Instit., 1865, S^ 2 sqq. ; Monument. dell Instit., VIII. tab. 
23, 2 ; H. Jordan, Topographic der Stadt Rom in Altertum, I. 2, p. 67, n. 67. 

7 R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, pp. 165-189; 1876, 31-34; H. 
Jordan and Schupmann, Annal. dell Instit., 145-172; Dressel, Bull, dell Instit.. 
1882, 226 sqq. 

8 G. Gatti, Notiz. d. Scaz>., 1896, p. 161. 



42 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



east angle of the substructures). The distance separating the 
two flanks — the eastern and western — and, consequently, the 
width of the temple, was just 56 yards, 1 to which figure must be 
added the thickness of the two facings which to-day no longer 
exist : in all a total of about 60 yards for the front. 

The length, as to which the excavations have not supplied 
precise 'indications, may, nevertheless, be determined in an 
indirect manner. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 2 recording the 
construction of the temple of Jupiter, gives the total figure of 
the perimeter as being eight plethra ( = 271^- yards). He adds 
that the difference between the length and the breadth was not 
15 feet. Consequently, a total length of 66 yards must be 
admitted. The figure of the perimeter would, therefore, be 253 
yards, i.e. *]\ plethra, a figure about \yh yards inferior to that of 







', ■• 



: >*m 







FIG. 6. — TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS (COINS OF DOMITIAN). 



Dionysius. It is probable that he merely gave eight plethra as 
a round number. 

The temple occupied the centre of the Area Capitolina, of 
which it covered rather more than a fifth (3,630 yards out of 
16,500) ; the free space around it, being the Area properly so 
called, measured about 38J yards in front, 36J on the two sides, 
27J5- yards at the back. The bearings, which excavations have 
enabled to be determined 3 were north-south, with a deviation of 
24 degrees towards the east. 

The remains discovered belong almost exclusively to the 
substructures. 4 These substructures, about S2 yards high, are 
formed with quadrangular blocks of tufa (average dimensions : 

1 H. Jordan, Typographic der Stadt Rom in Altertujn, I. 2, pp. 69-70. 

2 Dionys. of Halic., IV. 61. 

3 On the bearings, R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, p. 180 ; Schupmann, 
loc. cit., p. 149 ; H. Jordan, loc. cit., p. 68. 

4 R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, 181. Cf. Dressel, Bull, dell' Instil., 
1882, p. 226. 



THE OTHER EDIFICES OF THE CAPITOL 43 

width, om. 60c, length om. 70c, height om. 31c.) superposed on 
each oi.her without mortar. In the south-eastern part of the 
edifice, some precise indications have also been gathered as 
to the. dimensions of the walls that supported the six rows of 
columns of the Pronaos, and the situation of the favissae. 1 

Of the edifice itself only a few remains have been recovered : 
a fragment of a fluted column 2 and a Corinthian capital in 
Pentelican marble ; 3 an Attic fragment of a base, likewise in 
marble ; 4 some bits of a cornice and a frieze ornamented with 
oxheads and festoons, 5 taken from the edifice reconstructed by 
Domitian. From these remains, it appears that the diameter of 
the columns was between 2 J and 2^ yards ; 6 that of the bases 
2tt yards, nearly ; 7 that of the capitals (the capital discovered 
was much mutilated), over 2} yards ; 8 the distance, so far as it 
may be ascertained from the arrangement of the supporting 
walls, was about 9J yards from axis to axis. 9 Last of all, it 
should be mentioned that the discovery of two terra cotta frag- 
ments in 1896 seems to have brought to light a portion of the 
primitive decoration of the facade. 10 



The other Edifices of the Capitol. 

Round the temple of the Capitoline triad, on the Area 
Capitolina, stood a large number of temples, altars, religious or 
dedicatory monuments and statues. From the end of the 
monarchial period, the Capitol became the religious centre of 
pagan Rome. There was a great increase of sanctuaries under 
the Republic and the Empire. 

Except, perhaps, for the temples of Fides and Jupiter Custos, 
it is impossible to fix the exact site of these buildings. The 
various records are lacking in precision, and nowhere else in 
the city has the disappearance of ancient remains been more 
complete. One fact, at least, is certain : these buildings stood 
on the Area Capitolina, to the front and sides of the temple of 
Jupiter Capitolinus. 

1 H. Jordan, loc. cit., p. 70. 

2 R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, p. 185 ; H. Jordan, loc. cit., p. 72, 
n. 69. 

3 Notiz. d. Scav., 1897, p. 60. 4 fj. Jordan, loc. cit. 

5 R. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, p. 301. 

6 R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, p. 185. 

7 H. Jordan, loc. cit. 8 Notiz. d. Scav., 1897, p. 60. 

9 R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., 1875, pp. 165 sqq. Cf. H. Jordan, Topog. 
der Stadt Rom in Altertum, I. 2, p. 85. 
1° G. Gatti, Notiz. d. Scav., 1896, p 185. 



44 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Several temples were consecrated to Jupiter : there were 
Jupiter Feretrius, the Jupiter Tonans and the Jupiter Custos. 

The temple of Jupiter Feretrius, which was the first dedicated 
to Jupiter on the Capitoline hill, was the most ancient in Rome. 
According to tradition, it was dedicated by Romulus, prior to the 
treaty concluded with the Sabine king, Titus Tatius. After 
killing with his own hand Acron, the king of the Caeninians, 
Romulus hung up in it the first spolia opima. 1 A. Cornelius 
Cossus, in 437 B.C. (317 ab urbe condita) and M. Claudius 
Marcellus in 222 B.C. (532 ab urbe condita) consecrated the 
second and the third. At the end of the Republic, the edifice, 
which had been enlarged by King Ancus Marcius, 2 was falling 
into ruins. 3 It was rebuilt by Augustus, about 31 B.C. (723 ab 
urbe condita), in accordance with the primitive plan. 4 

The edifice, with its very limited dimensions (according to 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the longest side measured less 
than fifteen feet), 5 is represented on a coinage of the Gens 
Claudia, under the form of a tetrastyle temple with a high 
staircase in front. 6 Inside were deposited the sceptre and the 
silex used by the Fetiales in signing treaties of peace. 7 

The temple of Jupiter Tonans, built by Augustus, 8 who, 
during an expedition into Cantabria (in 26 B.C. =728 ab urbe 
condita), had narrowly escaped being struck by lightning, and 
dedicated on the day of the Kalends of September (1st of 
September), 32 B.C. (722 ab urbe condita), 9 was situated in the 
southern portion of the Area Capitolina, in front of the temple 
of Jupiter Capitolinus. On account of its situation, it was 
commonly called " Jupiter's porter " (janitor). Sacrifices were 
offered in it on the anniversary of its dedication, the 1st of 
September. 10 The walls were built of massive marble blocks. 
Inside was a statue of Jupiter, carved by the sculptor 
Leochares. 11 Before the entrance to the temple, on the Area 
Capitolina, were the statues of Hygeia, Castor, and Pollux. 12 

In 69 A D., at the time of the assault made on the Capitol by 
the soldiers ofVitellius, Domitianhad taken refuge in the house 
of the keeper of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and had 

I Tit. Liv., I. 10 ; Dionys. of Halic, II. 34 2 Tit. Liv., I. 33. 

3 Cornel. Nepos, Attic, XX. ; Tit. Liv., IV. 20. 

4 Res. Gest. Div. Aug., 4, 5 : " Aedes in Capitolio Jovis Feretri . . .feci.'' 1 
Tit. Liv., loc. cit. 

5 Dionys. of Halic. , II. 34. 

6 E. Babelon (in French), Historical and Chronological .Description of the 
Coins of the Roman Republic, I. p. 352, Claudia, No. 11, P. Cornelius P. F. 
Lentidus Marcellinus, monetary triumvir about 45 B.C. (709 ab urbe condita). 

7 Festus, p. 92. 8 Res Gest. Div. Aug., 4, 5. 

9 Calend. Amitern., the day of the Kalends of September (C.I.L., I 2 , p. 244). 

10 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXVI. 50. 

II Id., XXXIV. s • il Jovem ilium tonantem in Capitolio,'" 
12 Id, XXXIV/78. 



THE OTHER EDIFICES OF THE CAPITOI 45 

hidden there to escape the clutches of his enemies. After the 
succession of Vespasian, he pulled down the keeper's house ; 
and, as a token of his gratitude, consecrated, on its site, a 
sanctuary to Jupiter Conservator. 1 It was an edifice of small 
size. Inside it was an altar on which was an inscription men- 
tioning the danger run by Domitian and the protection accorded 
him by Jupiter. Later, when he became Emperor, Domitian re- 
placed the sanctuary by a larger building, the temple of Jupiter 
Custos. 2 In the cellae was a statue of Jupiter, which, at the 
dates 84 and 86, figures on several of Domitian's coinages. 3 

To the temples consecrated to Jupiter must be added those 
of Fides, Mens, Mars Ultor, Ops, and Venus Erycina. 

The temple of Fides was situated at the southern extremity of 
the Area Capitolina, between the temple of Jupiter and the 
Tarpeian Rock. It was one of the most ancient in Rome. 4 
Tradition relates that it was founded by Numa. 5 Mention is 
made of it for the first time in the beginning of the second 
century B.C. In 115 B.C. (639 ab urbe condita) it was restored 
by the consul M. Aemilius Scaurus, 6 after his triumph over the 
Carnic Gauls. The Senate often held their meetings there ; " 
and annual sacrifices were offered in it on the day of the Kalends 
of October (1st of October). 8 

The temple of Mens dated back to the epoch of the Republic. 
Vowed in 217 B.C. (537 ab urbe condita) by the praetor 
T. Otacilius Crassus, 9 it was dedicated two years later, on the 
6th day from the Ides of June (6th of June), 10 215 B.C. (529 ab 
urbe condita). The consul M. Aemilius Scaurus rebuilt it at the 
same time as the temple of Fides, 1 1 5 B.C. (639 ab urbe condita). 11 
The annual sacrifice was celebrated on the 8th of June, the 
anniversary of the dedication. 12 

1 Tacit., Hist., III. 74. 

2 Id. : " Mox imperium adeptus, Jovi Custodi templum ingens seque in sinn dei 
sacravit." Sueton., Demit. , V. 

3 H. Cohen, loc. cil., Domitian, Nos. 301-306, 321-322. 

4 Cato, quoted by Cicero, de Offic, III. 104. 

5 Tit. Liv., I. 21, 4 ; Dionys. of Halic, II. 75. 

6 Cicero, de Nat. Deor., II. 61. 

7 Valer. Maxim., III. 2, 21 ; Appian, Civil Wars, I. 16. 

8 Calendr. Amitern., Arz>aL, at the date of the day of the Kalends of October 
C.I.L., I 2 , pp. 214-245). Several military diplomas, of the second half of the 
1st century a. d. , mention the temple of Faith : C. I. L. , 111., p. 844, No 1 {anno 52 : . 
aedis Fidei populi Romani parte dexteriore) ; 856, XIII. {anno 86) ; 857, XIV. 
{id.). 9 Tit. Liv., XXII. 10: " Menti aedem T. Otacilius praetor vovit." 

10 Id., XXIII. 31 : "Duumviri ere at i sunt Q. Fabius Maxiimcs et T. Otacilius 
Crassus aedibus dedicandis, Menti Otacilius, Fabius Veneri Erucinae. Utraqice 
in Capitolio est, canali uno discretae." 

11 Cicero, de Natur. Deor., II. 23, 61 : " Ut Fides, ut Mens quas in Capitolio 
dedicatas videmus a Aemilio Scauro." Plutarch, de Fort. Rom., X.: " 'Zicavpos 
Wi/u-tAios 7repi Ta Ki/x/3pt/<:a rots xpoVois yeyovco<; KaOiepojcrev." 

12 Calendr. Venous. Maffeian, Tusculan, the 6th day from the Ides of June 
(8 June) (C.I. L., I 2 , pp. 216, 22T, 224). 



4 6 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



The temple of Mars Ultor, which stood near that of Jupiter 
Feretrius, was built in 20 B.C. (734 ab urbe condita) by 
Augustus, 1 who placed in it the insignia formerly lost by Crassus 
and restored by Phraates, king of the Parthians. The edifice, 
which is represented on several of the coinages of Augustus, 2 
was circular in form, with four or six columns on the circum- 
ference. 

The temple of Ops, the date of whose foundation is unknown, 
existed already in 186 B.C. (568 ab urbe condita), at which time 
it was struck by lightning. 3 After his triumph over the Dalma- 
tians, L. Caecilius Metellus restored it in 117 B.C. (637 ab urbe 
condita). 4 In the vicinity of the temple there was a statue of 
Metellus. 5 Caesar deposited his treasure in it. 6 In the first 

century A.D., the temple 
of Ops sometimes served 
as a meeting-place for 
the college of the Ar- 
vales. 7 

The temple of Venus 
Erycina, which was near 
the temple of Mens, 8 
was vowed in 271 B.C. 
(537 ab urbe condita) 
by the dictator Q. Fabius 
Maximus ; 9 and was de- 
215 B.C. (539 ab urbe 




MARS ULTOR 



(COINS OF AUGUSTUS). 



dicated by him two years later, in 
condita). 10 

There were numerous sanctuaries and altars on the Area 
Capitolina. The sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia was said by 
tradition to date back to the reign of Servius Tullius. 11 The 
sanctuary of Beneficentia was built by Marcus Aurelius. 12 The 
sanctuary of Felicitas is mentioned at the end of the first 
century B.C. Sacrifices were offered in it annually on the day of 



Kara, to rov Atbs tov Qeperp t'ov 



1 Dion Cass., XCV. 8: "'Ev tc3 KaTrercoAto) 
^i]\oifxa Trpbs tyjv roiv a-qfxeioiv avdOecrtv." 

2 H. Cohen, loc cit., Augustus, Nos. 189-205. 

3 Tit. Li v., XXXIX. 22 : " Aedes Opis in Cafiitolio de caelo tacta erat" Cf. 
Obseq., 3, 68. 

4 Plin., Hist. Nat., XI. 174. 

5 Cicero, ad Attic, VI. 1, 17: " ad Opis parte fiosita in excelso est" 

|> Cicero, Philipp.,\\. 93 ; 1, 7, i 7 ; VIII. 9, 26 ; ad Attic, XIV. 14, 5 ; XVI. 14,3. 

7 Meeting of the Arvales in 80 a.d. on the occasion of the rebuilding of the 
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus by Titus. See above, p. 35, n. 3, Cf. C.I.L.,111., 
suppl., p. 1962 (military diploma of the year 83 a.d., No. XV.: " intra januam 
Opis ad tat us dextrum"} 

8 Tit Liv., XXIII. 31. 9 rd., XXII. to. 10 id., XXIII: 31. 

11 Plutarch, de Fortun. Rom., X.; Clem. Alex., Protrept., IV. si : C.I.L., 
XIV. 2852. ' 

12 Dion Cass., LXXI. 34 : " Nab? rrjs Evepyeo-iW 



THE OTHER EDIFICES OF THE CAPITOL 47 




the Kalends of July (ist of July). 1 The divinities Genius Populi 
Romani, Felicitas and Venus Victrix also had a sanctuary in 
which a sacrifice was offered, on the seventh day from the Ides 
of October (9th of October). 2 Then there were the sanctuary 
of Jupiter Victor, which was struck by lightning in 42 B.C. (712 
ab urbe condita.), 3 the sanctuary of Valetudo, 4 the sanctuary of 
Venus Capitolina, in which last Livia consecrated the statue of 
a son of Germanicus and Agrippina, represented as a Cupid. 5 

The altar of Jupiter Soter ('AXcgiKaicos) 6 was raised by the 
Emperor Claudius. The altar of Jupiter Pistor 7 dated back to 
the epoch of the Republic. The altar of the Gens Julia 8 was 
raised in honour of that gens. There were, besides, some altars 
dedicated to eastern divinities : those of Isis Capitolina and 
Serapis, 9 and of Bel- 
lona Asiatica, 10 which 
were demolished in 
58 B.C. (696 ab urbe 
condita) and 47 B.C. (707 
ab urbe condita) by 
order of the Senate, but 
probably built again at 
a later date ; and, last of 
all, an altar of Nemesis. 11 

Other edifices, situ- 
ated either on the Area 

Capitolina or in the immediate vicinity, counted among the 
most ancient souvenirs of Rome. 

The Casa Romuli, a hut covered with verdure and branches, 
which was carefully preserved under the Empire, and which 
tradition asserted to have been the dwelling of Romulus, re- 
called the memory of the founder of Rome. 12 The Curia Calabra 13 
was the place where, during the first centuries of the Republic, 
the Calata Comitia met each month, on the day of the Kalends, 
under the presidency of the Pontifex Maximus, in order to fix 

1 Calendr. Antiat., the day of the Kalends of July (C.I. L., I 2 p. 248). 

2 Calendr. Amitern. Arval., the 7th day from the Ides of October (C.I.L., I 2 , pp. 
214-245). 

3 Dion Cass., XLVII. 40, 2 : " 'O tov Nikcuov Aio? 0coju6s." 

4 Petron., Satir., 88. 

5 Sueton., Calig., VII. Cf. an offering of Galba, Sueton., Galb., XVIII. 

6 Phlegon, Mirab., VI. ; Serv., ad Aeneid., VIII. 651. 

7 Ovid, Fast., VI. 343 ; Lacrant., Divin. Institute I. 20; Institut. Epitom., 15. 

8 C.I.L., III., pp. 847-85^ 1958, 1959 (military diplomas of the years 69-71, 

9 Tertull., ad Nat., I. 10; Apol., 6 ; Arnob., II. 73. 

10 Dion Cass., XLII. 46. 

11 Plin., Hist. Nat, XI. 251 ; XXVIII. 22. 

1 2 Vitruv., de Archit., II. 1, 5 ; Seneca, Controv., II. 1, 4 ; Conon, Narr , XLVII. 

13 Varro, de Ling. Lat., VI. 27 ; Fest., p. 49 ; Macrob., Saturnal., I. 15, 9 sqq. ; 
Calendr. Prenest., the day of the Kalends of January (C.I. L., I 2 , p. 231). 



FIG. 8. — TEMPLE OF MARS ULTOR 
(COINS OF AUGUSTUS). 



48 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the calendar and settle various questions of civil importance, in 
which the intervention of religion was necessary. The Aedes 
Thensarum, 1 mentioned in the first century of the Christian era, 
was the place where the cars (thensae) were kept on which the 
statues of the gods were put at the time of the great proces- 
sions. The office of the Aediles, 2 where the originals of public 
treaties were preserved, at least until the second century B.C., 
and the Atrium publicum, which was struck by lightning in 
214 B.C. (540 ab urbe condita), 3 are no longer spoken of under 
the Empire. 

On the Capitol, likewise, was the Athenaeum, 4 a spacious 
lecture room where orators and poets spoke or declaimed, and 
which was built by Hadrian. A library, destroyed by lightning 
in 175 A.D., under Commodus, 5 was annexed to this edifice. 

In the free and open spaces between the religious and 
the civil edifices, in front and on the sides of the temples, 
along the portico that surrounded the Area Capitolina, stood a 
large number of honorific monuments, dedicatory bases, trophies, 
and statues. 

After the first war against Mithridates, 87-84 B.C. (667-670 
ab urbe condita), the towns of Lycia, in Asia Minor, con- 
secrated a double series of dedicatory bases, on the Area 
Capitolina and in the Capitolium Vetus of the Quirinal, some of 
which have been recovered. 6 

As a souvenir of his victories over Jugurtha, the Cimbri, and 
the Teutons, Marius raised commemorative trophies on "the Area 
Capitolina. 7 After being thrown down by Sylla, at the time of 
the Senatorial reaction that followed the banishment of Marius, 
they were replaced on the Capitol, during his Aedileship in 
65 B.C. (689 ab urbe condita). 

Germanicus raised other trophies, after his victorious cam- 
paigns in Germany ; these were placed in the southern part of 
the Area Capitolina, near the temple of Fides. 8 

1 C.I. L., III., p. 845 (Military diplomas of the year 60, II.: " ad latus sinisirum 
aedis Thensaruin" ; id., Supplement, p. 1963, XVI.: "Post Thensarium 
veterem"). 2 Polyb., III. 26. 

3 Tit. Liv., XXIV. 10 : " Tacta de caelo Atrimii Publicum in Capitolio." 
•i Dion Cass., LXXIII. 17; Aurel. Vict., Caesar, 14, 3-4 ; Vita Pertin., XI. 2 ; 
Severi Alexand., XXXVI. 2; Gordian., 3, 4 ; Sidon. Apollin., IX. 14: " Crepi- 
tantis Athenaei subseltia cuneata." 

5 Oros., VII. 16 : " Full nine Capitolhtm ictum ex quo facta imjlammatio biblio- 
thecam illam majorum cura studioque compositam aedesque alias juxta sitas 
rapaci turbine concremavit." Chronic. St. Jerome, ad ann. Abrah. 2204 (ed. A. 
Schone, p. 175). 

6 Bull. Archeol. Com., 1887, p. 251. Ch. Huelsen, I e r Topog'. Jahresb., Romisch. 
Mitth., 1889, pp. 252-254 ; III e Topogr. Jahresb., id,., 1891, pp. 103-104. 

7 Plutarch, Caesar, VI. ; Sueton., Caesar, VI. 11 ; Veil. Patercul., II 43, 4 ; Dion 
Cass., L., 4: Propert., IV. n, 46 : " Statuae et arma Mari." 

H C.I.L., III., pp. 856-857 (Military diplomas of the year 86, Nos. XIII. and 
XIV. : " Post Tropaea Germanici quae sunt ad Aedent Fidei populi Romani"). 



THE OTHER EDIFICES OF THE CAPITOL 49 

Records and inscriptions mention the existence of numerous 
statues. Some were statues of divinities. Three were of Jupiter, 
one being of colossal dimensions (it was visible from the Alban 
Mounts) and dedicated in 293 B.C. (461 ab urbe condita) by the 
consul Spurius Carvilius Maximus, vanquisher of the Samnites ; x 
a second, which faced towards the Forum, was supported by a 
high pillar ; 2 the third was that of Jupiter Africus. 3 Then 
there were a statue of Liber, near the altar of Gens Julia ; 4 two 
statues of Hercules, one of which was the work of Lysippus, 5 
and the other had been dedicated in 305 B.C. (449 ab urbe 
condita) ;- 6 a statue of Mars ; 7 the statues of Hygeia, Castor and 
Pollux, placed on the southern ledge of the Area, in front of the 
temple of Jupiter Tonans ; 8 statues of Bonus Eventus and Bona 
Fortuna ; 9 and a group in gilded bronze representing the She- 
Wolf and the Twins. lu 

The remaining ones were statues of celebrated personages : 
statues of the seven kings in their toga, 11 of L. Junius Brutus, 12 
of Spurius Carvilius, 13 near the statue of Jupiter, of L. Scipio ; 14 
equestrian statues of the dictator, Q. Fabius Maximus, 15 the 
adversary of Hannibal, of M. Aemilius Lepidus, 16 of the 
Metelli, 17 raised by Q. Caecilius Metellus, consul in 52 B.C. 
(702 ab urbe condita), of Q. Marcus Rex, 18 praetor in 144 B.C. 
(610 ab urbe condita), who had the merit of bringing the Aqua 
Marcia to the Capitol, situated behind the temple of Jupiter, of 
T. Sejus, 19 who, during his Aedileship, had done much for the 
food supplies of Rome, and of others besides. 

At the beginning of the Empire, the limited surface of the 

I Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 43. 2 Dion Cass., XXXVII. 3. 

3 C.I.L., III., pp. 853-855 (Military diplomas of the years 76: "in basijovis 
Africi " ; and 85, No. XII. : "in basi columnae parte posteriore qtiac est secundum 
Jovem Africuin "). 

4 Id., p. 849 (Military diploma of the year 70, No. VI. : "in podio arae gentis 
Juliae latere dextro ante signum Liberi palris"). 

5 This statue, brought from Tarentum, had been dedicated in 209 b c. (545 ab 
urbe condita): Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 41; Strab., VI., p. 278; Dion Cass., 
XLI. 14; Plutarch, Fab. Max., XXII. 

6 Tit. Liv., IX. 44. 7 Dion Cass., XLI. 14. 

8 Plin., Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 78. 

9 Id., XXXVI. 23 : " Boni Eventus et Bonae Fortunae simulacra in CapitolioJ" 
1° Cicero, Catilin., III. 8, 19: " Romulus quern inauratum in Capitolio parvuvi 

atque lactantem, uberibus lupinis inhiantem, fuisse meministis." Id., de Divinat., 

II Asco'n., ad Scaur., p. 30; Plin., Hist Nat., XXXIII. 9, 10, 24 ; XXXIV. 22. 
Cf. Appian, Civil Wars, I. 16. These statues were on the eastern portion of the Area 
Capitolina, near the gate giving issue to the Clivus Capitolinus. 

12 Dion Cass., XLII. 45. 13 Plin. , Hist. Nat., XXXIV. 43. 

14 Cicero, pro Rabir., X. 27 ; Valer. Max., III. 6, 2. 

15 Plutarch Fab. Max., XXII. 16 Valer. Maxim., III. 1, 1 

17 Cicero, ad Attic, VI. 1, 6 ; Dionys. of Halic, II. 66. 

18 C.I.L., III. p. 846 (Military diploma of the year 64. No. III.). 

19 Plin., Hist. Nat., XVIII. 16. Cf, a statue of a certain Pinarius Natta, Cicero, 
de Divin. I. 12, 20 , II 20, 45 ; 21, 47. 



50 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Area Capitolina was so crowded that Augustus was obliged to 
have a certain number of statues that adorned it taken away 
and transported to the Campus Martius. 1 Others must have 
been destroyed by the conflagrations of 69 and 80 a.d. Do- 
mitian and Trajan had their statues on the Capitol, the one 
on the Area Capitolina, 2 the other in the vestibule of the temple 
of Jupiter. 3 The last statue of which mention is found is that 
of Claudius the Gothic, a gold statue, ten feet high, which was 
erected in 270 A D., by order of the Senate, in front of the temple 
of Jupiter Capitolinus. 4 A few years later, in 275, the Emperor 
Tacitus ordered the statue of his predecessor, Aurelian, to be 
erected on the Capitol ; but, for reasons that do not transpire, 
the erection did not take place. 5 

On the enclosing walls of the Area Capitolina, as on those of 
the temples and on the bases of the statues, were placed bronze 





FIG. 9. — TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS (COINS OF VESPASIAN). 



tables containing the list of soldiers who had obtained from the 
Emperor their definitive liberation. For example, such lists 
were on the walls of the temple of Fides, of the Aedes 
Thensarum, of the tribunal of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian ; 
on the altar of the Gens Julia ; on the bases of the statue of 
Jupiter Africus and the trophies of Germanicus. 6 This custom 
was discontinued in 90 A.D. ; 7 and thenceforward the lists were 
posted up behind the temple of Augustus, near the Forum, at 
the place called " ad Minervam." 

The Pandana Gate, which opened in the enclosing wall of the 
Area, opposite the temple of Fides, gave access to the rocky 
projection known as the Tarpeian Rock. 8 It was from this 

1 Sueton., Calig., XXXIV. 2 Sueton., Domit., XIII. 

3 Plin. the Young., Paneg. Traj., LI I. 

4 Vita Claud., 3, 4. 5 Vita Tacit, IX. 2. 6 See abov^, p. 47. 

7 C.I.L., III., Suppl., p. 1965, No. XXI. 

8 Varro, de Ling. Lat., V. 41 ; Dionys. of Halic, VII. 35; VIII. 78; Festus, 
340; Lucan., P /tarsal., III. 154 ; Tacit., Hist., III. 71. 



THE OTHER EDIFICES OF THE CAPITOE 51 

eminence, facing the temples of Fides and Jupiter Capitolinus, 
and in presence of the multitude assembled on the Area 
Capitolina as well as at the foot of the hill, in the Vicus 
Jugarius, that criminals were thrown down. To the crimes 
which, under the Republic, involved this penalty, another was 
added under the Empire, that of high treason. According to 
legend, Tarpeia was buried at this spot. 

The steepness of the Capitol, on the south-east and south, 
had not allowed of the building of private houses on the sides 
of the heights. But there were a certain number between the foot 
of the hill and the Vicus Jugarius. This quarter was constantly 
threatened with landslips. In 192 B.C. (562 ab urbe condita) a 
mass of rock broke from the summit and crushed many of the 
people living in the Vicus Jugarius. 1 At two different dates, 
in 368 B.C. (366 ab urbe condita), 2 and in 189 B.C. (566 ab urbe 



,<,<;"<>: \ 



\ 



FIG. IO. — TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS (COINS OF VESPASIAN). 



condita), 3 after the just mentioned accident, the declivity was 
consolidated by means of buttress walls. 

In 213 B.C. (541 ab urbe condita) a great fire devastated the 
whole of the quarter. 4 

At the south-east corner, immediately below the Tarpeian 
Rock, was a space free of buildings, the Aequimelium. 5 Here 
was held a market for the animals intended to be offered in 
private sacrifices. 6 According to legend, it was the site once 
occupied by the house of Spurius Maelius, who was accused of 
high treason in 438 B.C. (316 ab urbe condita) and put to death, 
on the Forum, by the Magister Equitum, C. Servilius Ahala. 7 
His house was said to have been razed, and the Senate was said 

1 Tit. Liv., XXXV. 21, 6. 2 Id., VI. 4, 12. 

3 Id., XXXVIII. 28, 3. 4 Tit. Liv., XXIV. 47. 

5 Dionys. of Halic, XII. 4. 

6 Cicero, de Divin., II. 17, 39: "Cum in Aequimelium misimus qui afferat 
agnuu: qtiem immolei/ius." 

7 Varro, de Ling. Lat., V. 157 ; Cicero, de Domo, 101 ; Tit. Liv., IV. 16, 1. 

E 2 



52 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

to have decreed that the spot should remain for ever unbuilt 
upon. This legend was probably of late creation. That the 
Aequimelium should have still existed at the commencement of 
the Empire may doubtless be explained by reasons of religion of 
which we are ignorant. 

In the south-east, towards the Tiber, the staircase of the 
Centum Gradus connected the Area Capitolina with the quarter 
of the Forum Boarium. Between the ancient street, cor- 
responding to the Via della Bocca della Verita of to-day, and 
the Capitol, there were two public edifices : the Minucia 
portico, constructed at the end of the second century B.C., by 
M. Minucius Rufus, consul in no B.C. (644 ab urbe condita), 
which served for the corn distribution ; * and another portico, 
smaller than the Minucian one, and situated to the south of it ; 
the plan of this latter was drawn out in the sixteenth century, 
and some remains of it were discovered in 1891, between the 
Vicolo della Bufala and the Via della Consolazione. 2 

The inner circumference of the Capitol, towards the Campus 
Martius and the Forum Boarium, was occupied by private 
houses, from the time of the sale of the State lands, which took 
place in 88 B.C. (666 ab urbe condita). The aspect of this 
quarter, with its irregular buildings rising in tiers, the lowest 
resting on the declivity of the hill, must have altered but very 
little from the remotest times. There were located the greater 
part of the 3,480 insulae and of the 140 domus mentioned in the 
second century by the Regionaries. Moreover, this quarter had 
no direct communication with the summit of the Capitol ; 
topographically and historically, it was a part of the Campus 
Martius. 



Decay and Ruin of the Capitol 



The political and monumental development of the Capitol had 
been intimately connected with the development itself of the 
city of Rome. The decay of Rome brought with it, as 
a necessary consequence, the decay of the Capitol. 

As soon as the Tetrarchy was established, at the end of the 
third century, Rome ceased to be, if not the centre of the 
Empire, at least the residence of its Emperors. The Palatine 

1 Cicero, Philipp., II. 84; Velleius Patercul., II. 8, 3; Vita Commod., XVI.; 
Notit. Reg., IX.; Chronog. Ann., 354, p. 146 (ed. Th. Mommsen). 

2 Design of Dosio, No. 5354 (cf. R. Lanciani, Forma Urbis Romae, f. 28) ; Ch 
Huelsen, III er Topog. Jahresb., Romisch. Mitt/i., 1892, p. 292. 



; tn. 



DEC A Y AND RUIN OF THE CAPITOL 



53 



was abandoned by Diocletian and his colleagues, who took up 
their residence near the frontiers of their dominions, in order 
the better to provide for the defence of them. Diocletian went 
to Nicomedia, Maximian to Milan, Galerius to Sirmium, Con- 
stantius Chlorus to Treviri. 

The reconstitution of the monarchical unity by Constantine, 
in 323 A.D., did not restore either to Rome or to the Capitol 
their lost greatness. In 330, Constantine finally forsook Rome 
and transferred the capital of the Empire to Constantinople. 

For two centuries still, the buildings of the Capitol retained 
their ancient splendour. But life had quitted the Capitol ; it was 
no more than an image of the past. In speaking of the reigns 




FIG. II. — THE CAPITOLIXE MOUNT, AFTER CANINA. 



of Constantius and of Julian, Ammianus Marcellinus boasts 
twice of the magnificence of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 1 
The poet Ausonius celebrates the "golden temple of the 
Capitol." 2 And yet, the destruction of Jupiter's temple had 
already commenced. At the end of the fourth century, Stilicho 
took away the gilded bronze gates giving access to the cellae, 3 
and transported them to Constantinople. In 455, Genseric, the 
king of the Vandals, who became master of the city, took away 
half of the golden tiles from the roof. 4 

Of all the edifices of the Capitol, the Tabularium, which was 
protected by its massiveness and by the construction of the 
Senatorial palace, is the only one that has been preserved 

1 Ammian. Marcell., XVI. 10, 14. 

- Au son., Clar. Urb., XII. 17 : " A urea Capitoli culmina" 

3 Zosim., V. 38. 

4 Procop., Wars of the Vandals, I. 4: '"EcrvA^cre Se koL tuv tqv <Atos tov 

Ka7TlT(oAtOV V€U)V, KCU TOV TiyOVS Tt]V t][Xl(XeLQ,V a</>€lA.€TO jt/,CKpay." 



54 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

down to our own time. The other buildings and monuments 
of the Capitol and the Arx disappeared, in general, before 
the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. No trace of them has 
survived. 1 

1 The works carried out since the Renascence, either on the summit or on the 
sides of the Capitol, have brought about a number of discoveries which permit of 
the topography of the Capitoline hill being ascertained in many respects. In 
addition to some isolated discoveries (in 1871, the part of the old road running along 
the northern side of the Capitol— the present Via Giulio Romano ; in 1872 and 1892, 
fragments of the wall of Servius, on the site of the Via delle Tre Pile ; in 1888, a 
private house, on the Piazza del Campidoglio) the chief discoveries are those due to 
important works executed in two parts of the hill ; on the north-eastern flank of the 
Arx (during the preparations for the construction of the monument to Victor 
Emmanuel, since 1881 ; in 1887, 1889, 1892, three fragments of the wall of Servius ; 
in 1888-1892, sanctuaries consecrated to oriental divinities and also numerous private 
houses) ; on the Capitol properly so called (in 1865, 1875-1878, works for the Palazzo 
Caffarelli and for the Palace of the Conservators : discovery of the platform of the 
temple of Jupiter Capit -linus ; in 1896, cutting of a new street between the Via 
Monte Capriho and the upper portion of the Via Monte Tarpeio : discovery of the 
south-east corner of this same platform). 




THE CAPITOL IN THE 
MIDDLE AGES 



THE CAPITOL IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



Legends. 

The Capitol has had the rare privilege of remaining, through- 
out the ages, the centre and, as it were, the symbol of the 
political life of Rome. It has been really the head of it (caput), 
as its name would seem to have fore-determined. 1 

The importance of its historic role had made such a deep im- 
pression upon people's imagination that the Capitol of bygone 
days was represented in it, in the Middle Ages, as a splendid 
palace, all of gold and silver, covered with a glass roof, the 
walls being resplendent with brass, and sparkling with the 
most precious stones. 2 Accordingly, the writers of that time 
most often characterise it by the epithet u aureum" calling it 
the " Capitolium aiireiim? 3 Alone, it was estimated to be 
worth a third of the riches of the world. 4 

1 "Capitolium ideo dicitur quod fuit caput totius mundi " (Mirabilia, ed. 
Parrhey, p. 17, line 18). See what has been said in the first part as to the head 
found during excavations made in the soil of the Capitoline Mount, p. 5. 

2 " Graphia aweae urbis Romaef ed. Lud. Urlichs, Codex Urbis Romae Topo- 
graphicus, 1871, p. 120, line 26. Cf. Descriptio plenaria totius urbis, quoted by 
Arturo Graf, in the exceedingly learned and text-supported work which he has 
written on the legends relative to the Capitol. The title is : "Roma nella i?iemoria 
e nelle immaginazioni del Medio Evo, I., p. 184. Cf. p. 285. The Anonymous 
Magliabecchianus (the name of a library in Florence) who wrote in the fifteenth 
century says : "In Capitolio, ubi stabant patres et consules ad gubernandam 
monarchiam mundi, facies murorum erat alta et diu (?) auro et argento intus et 
eboro mire operibus laqueata de qtia nil aliud quam vestigia vilissima indeformia 
reprobatur cum magna diffamia civium in opprobrium famae eorum praedeces- 
sorum quorum post obitum vigent virtute et mtcabili (?) fama." Urlichs, p. 164. 
Cf. p. 149. This opinion subsisted still in the eighteenth century. Rossini, 77 
Mercurio Errante, p. 18. 

3 "Ideo dicebatur azireum Capitolium quia p?-ae omnibus regnis totius orbis 
pollebat sapientia et decore" Graf, trin supra. Cf. Graphia aureae urbis. 

4 " Ly capitoil fut le chief de tout le mondeou les consules et senateurs demoroient 
por conselhier la citeit et le monde ottssi." (Cf. the passage quoted below of Martin 
Polonois.) " Si avoit dedens un temple que ons disoit que illi valloit le tierche 
part du monde" {Le Myreur des Histores, chronicle of Jean des Preis, called d'Outre- 
meuse, pub. by Ad. Borgnet, 1864, vol. I. p. 69). Similarly, may be read in 
Giacomo da Acqui. quoted by A. Graf : *'. . . Quod dicitur tertiam partem mundi 
valere, quod fiat permagna parte auro et lafidibus freiiosis peroruatum," 



58 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Its reputation had spread afar. 

Was made with marvellous engine, Par merveilleus engin fu fez, 

Within, was very broad and fine, Molt fu larges et biaus dedans, 

Two hundred vaults and arches had, Voutes et ars i ot deus cenz, 

wrote Benoit de Saint-More at the end of the twelfth century. 1 

This marvellous structure could not but contain prodigies. 
In fact, from the beginning of the eighth century, perhaps even 
before, a legend had grown up, 2 according to which, in one of 
the rooms of the Capitol, there had been gathered, by some 
Emperor or other, statues representing the various nations issued 
from the sons of Noah and subject to the Roman Empire. 3 
They were arranged in a semicircle : the one in the centre 
represented Rome and dominated the others, which all had a 
bell attached to their neck. As soon as any one nation sought 
to revolt, the bell of the statue that represented it began to ring, 
and the priest whose duty it was to keep incessant watch in the 
room where the statues stood at once advised the Senate. Thus 
the vigilance of that body could never be deceived. It was 
owing to this marvellous help that Augustus had been enabled 
to opportunely prepare an expedition against the King of Persia, 
who was defeated and had to pay tribute. 4 

The creation of this precious safeguard, to which was given 
the name of Salvatio civium or simply Salvatio, was attributed 
to Virgil, the great inventor of charms in the eyes of the people 
of the Middle Ages, the wizard whose witchcrafts were still 
dreaded by the Popes of the fourteenth century. 5 

As the legend grew popular, it was twisted into an infinite 
variety of forms. There were different traditions as to the way 
in which the bell rang. Some held that it rang itself, others 

1 Quoted by Joly in his edition of the Roman de Troie, t. I. p. 319, note 1. In 
the Croniqiies des Apostoiles de Rome, Martin Polonois says: ". . . Ce Capitate 
desus dit estoit le chief du monde. En ce pales estoient acoustumez a demourer les 
sages et les sena tours de Routine pour gouvemer le monde. On chief de ce pales 
estoit une haute tournelle fermee de haus mttrs, couverte dor et de voirre potir 
estre miroir aceulz qui le palais de jour regarderoient" (Bibl. Nat., ms. fr. 141 2, 
fo. 34, V.). 

2 It is mentioned by Saint Cosmo of Jerusalem the Hagiopolite {Comment, oj 
St. Greg. ofNaz.), c. CI., quoted by A. Graf, t. I. p. 189, note 12. The anonymous 
writer of Salernum makes mention of it in his chronicle composed about 978, ad attn. 
886, Pertz, Monum. germ., Hist. Chronicon Salernitanum, t. III. p. 538. 

3 Mirabilia, ed. Parthey, p. 39, line 21. Often the statues number seventy- 
two, a mystical figure ; seventy-two languages issued from the tower of Babel ; 
seventy-two generations repeopled the world after the deluge. 

4 Mirabilia, ed. Parthey, p. 39, line 20. 

5 See Du Meril, " Of Virgil the Enchanter" in Archaeological and Literary 
Miscellanies (in French), Paris, 1850, p. 425. Cf. A. Graf, I. 196, cap. XVI. 
According to Petrarch. Pope Clement VI. considered him a dangerous magician. 
Some traces of this legend still remained in the sixteenth century. Naude, 
Apologie pour tous les grands personnages qui ont este faussement accusez de 
magie, The Hague, 1653, cap. XXI. : Ly Myreur des Histores, I. 229 ; Wright, 
Seven Sages, London, 1885, Percy Society. 



LEGENDS 59 

that the statue wearing it was the agent. With some, the statue 
raised its arms ; with others, it turned its back to the statue of 
Rome. 1 In the chronicle of Jean d'Outremeuse, it cast some 
earth which it held in its hand. Under this form, the miracle 
is related in the poem on the Virgin, by William the Clerk, of 
Normandy, for whom the statues were, not representations of 
the various provinces of the Empire, but images of the princes 
who reigned over them. 2 

Each prince that was in vassalage Chescun prince qui apendeit 

In Rome possessed his image ; A Rome s'ymage i aveit ; 

And should a prince revolt essay Quant un des princes revelot 

The image of him turn'd away L'ymage celui tresturnot 

From the great image his own face, De la grant ymage son vis, 

And did his eyes from it ahase ; Et en teneit ses eulz eschis ; 

And thus it was the Romans knew, E done saveient li Romain, 

And of the thing were certain too, E bien en esteient certain, 

War from that land to them would come. Qu'en eel pais lur surdreit guere. 

Sometimes the statue represented, not Rome, but Romulus, 3 
and the statues surrounding him, Roman or foreign Emperors. 4 
According to the chronicle of Salernum, the statues were trans- 
ported to Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Alexander, 
who declared that " Roman Emperors had been glorious as long 
as these statues were venerated." On the night of their installa- 
tion, a man of surprising beauty appeared to him in a dream, 
called him by his name, and struck him on the breast, saying to 
him : " I am Peter, the Prince of the Romans." And the 
Emperor began to vomit blood and died. 

One of the most curious forms of the legend is that which 
placed at the summit of the Capitol a bronze knight who would 
turn to the place whence danger threatened, just as a weather- 
cock, thus revealing its locality to the Romans. 5 

1 Fiorita, di Armannino Giudice, Cod. Laurenz, pi. LXII. 12, f. 233 (quoted by 
A. Graf, p. 197, note 32). 

2 Stengel, Mittheilungen aus franzosischen Handsdwiften der T-icriner Univer- 
sitdts-Bibliothek, 1873, p. 14, No. 18, quoted by Graf, t. I. p. 193. 

3 This is the case in Jacques de Voragine, Golden Legend, Chap. VI., De 
Nativitate Domini :" Roniae enim ut tes tatter Innocentius papa in duodecim 
annis pax fuit. Igitur Romani templum pads pulcherrimum construxerunt, et 
ibi statua?n Romuli posnerunt. Consulentes autem Apollinem quantti7Ji duraret 
acceperunt responsum, quousque virgo pareret. Hoc autem audientes dixerunt : 
Ergo in aeternu7ii durabit. Impossible enim credebant, quod unquam pareret 
virgo. Unde in foribus templi htcne tituhim scripserunt : Templum pacis 
aeternum. Sed in ipsa nocte qua virgo peper it, templum funditics corruit. Et ibi 
est modo ecclesia sanctae Mariae novae." Lyons edition, 1554, fol. 8.. As to the 
localisation of the statues, see p. 6. Jacques de Voragine, Bishop of Genoa 
(1292-1298) visited Rome about this time. Jean d'Outremeuse, already mentioned 
above, says in his " Li Romans des Sept Sages" (p. CCXII.-CCXIII.) that the 
Emperor's image was in the middle. (A. Graf, p. 197). 

4 Graphia Aureae Urbis Romae, p. 120, line 24 : " In'Capitolio fuerunt imagines 
fusiles ojnnium regum troianorum et imperatorum." Cf. The Marvels of Rome, 
published by Francis Morgan Nichols, London, 1889. 

3 '-''Miles vera aeneus, equo insidens aeneo, in summitate fastigii praedicti 



60 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Of this singular legend still more singular explanations were 
given. As the Hagiopolite is one of the first to speak of it, an 
eastern origin has been attributed to it ; and an attempt has 
been made to prove it to be the echo of an Arabian tale. Others 
have imagined even that it was suggested by one of those clocks 
with movable figures that were such objects of curiosity in the 
Middle Ages, and a specimen of which may have existed in the 
Capitol during the last years of the Empire, since the Capitol 
at that time had become a sort of museum. 1 Is it not more 
likely that these statues, symbolizing foreign nations, are a 
souvenir, slightly modified, of the innumerable representations 
of exotic gods which were assembled in the various sanctuaries 
situated on the Capitoline Mount ? 2 " In Capitolio . . . deoriim 
omnium simulacra colebantur" says the grammarian Servius, who 
lived in the fourth century : 3 indeed, by the side of temples 
dedicated to most of the Roman divinities were to be seen altars 
to Isis, Bubastis, Mithra, and a crowd of other gods, and votive 
monuments so numerous that, from the time of Augustus, a 
goodly quantity had to be done away with. 4 It may be appo- 
sitely recalled here that this Emperor had had built in the Cam- 
pus Martius, expressly for the reception of statues of nations 
subject to the Roman people, a portico which bore the name 
" Porticus ad Nationes." 5 

It is well known that the presence in Rome of these foreign 
gods seemed, as it were, a token of the subjection of the peoples 
that venerated them, and a manifest proof that they had been 
abandoned by them. It was, therefore, easy for popular imagi- 
nation to go a step further and believe that any insurrection of 
these peoples must be accompanied by some sign of their 
national god. The origin of the legend is assuredly in this 

palatii ' hastam vibrans, in illam se vert it partem quae regionem illam respiciebat." 
Alex. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, I., II. c. 174. 

1 Massmann, Kaiserchronic, V., III. p. 424; Bock, Theologisches Litteraturblatt, 
of Bonn, 1870, col. 351. 

2 " Quod primum est Capitolium Romae, salvatio civium, major quam civitas, 
ibiquefuerunt gentium a Rojnanis captarum statuae, vel deorum imagines, et in 
statuarum pectoribus nomina gentium scripta, quae a Romanis captafuerant, et 
tintinnabula in coliibus eorum appensa. . . ." {De septem miraculis mundi, 
quoted by Graf, p. 189). Ramponi, quoted by Graf, p. 193, says also : " In hocvero 
Collideo " (as to this localisation see what is said further on) " erat congregatio 
statuarum deorum omnium gentium ." 

3 Servius Maurus Honoratus, Comment . . . z# Aeneid., II. 318. Cf. Appian, 
Bell, civ., I. 16 ; Dion, XLIII. 45, and Albertini, Opusculum de Mirabilibus, 
fol. 52. 

* See first part, pp. 20 and 43, and Homo, Lexicon of Roman Topography 
(French), article Area Capitolina. 

S Pliny, XXXVI. 27; Sueton., Nero, XLVI. ; Servius, ad Acn., VIII. 721; 
Homo, Lexicon of Roman Topography, p. 444 ; Luigi Borsari, Topographia di 
Roma antica, Milan, 1897, p. 286. Pliny speaks of fourteen statues and attributes 
them to the sculptor Coponius ; according to him the portico was built by Pompey. 
Cf. p. 48. 



LEGENDS 6 1 

belief, which, for a time perhaps, like other pagan superstitions, 
was strengthened by the advent of Christianity. 

The situation of this Palladium could, it would appear, be only 
in the Capitol, the sanctuary of the Roman world. Yet certain 
writers stated it to be elsewhere, in the Pantheon, in the Coliseum, 
in the temple of Concord whose ruins, more considerable and 
imposing than those of the Capitoline edifices, seemed, in fact, 
to speak of some still loftier destiny ; x it was even put in the 
Lateran. 2 In the course of time the Salvatio became a mirror 
in which were reflected the events that concerned the fortunes of 
the City, 3 and a protection that kept the Romans from all 
sudden attacks. 4 The fiction was a natural outcome of the 

1 The Salvatio is located in the Pantheon by the German version of the Mirabilia : 
" Der ander tcmpel ivaz genant Pantheon. . . . In dem selbem tempel war en also 
vil sawlen ale rechter ftcrsten. . . ." John Lydgate says of the Pantheon, in his 
version of Boccaccio's De casihis Virorum : 

Whyche was a temple old foundacion 
Ful of ydols, up set on lye stages, 
There troughe the worlde of every nacion 
Were of their goddes set up great ymages, 
To every kingdom direct were their visages. 



The poet A. Neckam, De laudibus divinae sapientiae places the Salvatio in the 
Coliseum (dist. V a , v. 289) : 

Delicias operum si quaeris, cerne colossum 
Et quam tutata est Juno moneta domum, 



At medium tenuit inclita Roma locum. 

And Ramponi : ".../« hoc vero Collideo erat congregatio statitanun deorum 
omnium gentium in sicblimi parte ipsitis templi, in secretissimo loco existentium, 
tintinnabulum vero adcollum unhiscuhisque statuae appendebat et sacerdotes die 
ac node: semper vicissim vigilantes eas custodiebant." William the Clerk, of 
Normandy, in his poem on the Virgin already quoted, situates the Salvatio in the 
temple of Concord : 

At Rome there was, truth to relate, Verite fu que a Rome aveit 

A temple that was very great, Un temple qui mult esteit, 

Built up most magnificently Edefie mult richement 

And founded very anciently, E funde ancienement, 

Temple of Concord was its name, Temple de cuncorde aveit nun, 

For what reason, I will proclaim. Si vus dirai par quel resun. 

See p. 59, the continuation of this quotation. See the discussion of A. Graf, 
I. 191-195- 

2 Yakut, Arab Descriptions of Rome, published by Ignazio Guidi (Archiv. 
delta Societd ro7nana di Storia Patria. Vol. I., p. 173 and following.) A. Graf 
speaks of these descriptions, t. I., p, 195. 

3 Cancellieri, Possessi, p. 98, note 1, Descriptio Urbis Romae. 

4 The son of the Duke of Hungary, giving his advice as to what should be done, 
whether to fight or to wait for help, says : 

No aid by land can henceforth us relieve, 
But that the mirror will it first perceive. 

Ne nous poet venir ore par terre nule a'ie (aide) 
Que cil du Miraour (ne) i'aient tost oi'e (ouie). 

The Destruction of Rome, Ed. Groeber, Romanii, II. v. 554 See article 
entitled : Poem of the. Destructioii of Rome and the Origins of the Leonine City 



62 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

notion, at that epoch existing, of the Capitol as sparkling with 
silver and covered with a glass roof. Speaking of a tower of this 
palace, in a passage which has been quoted above, 1 Martin 
Polonois says that it was covered with gold and ivory, in order to 
be a mirror to those that might look at the palace by day. 2 As 
already remarked, the palace of the Capitol was even styled the 
Mirror- Castle. Now, the magic mirror is said to have likewise 
been on a tower supported by a hundred marble pillars. " There 
was a tower at Rome, on which there was a mirror above a hun- 
dred marble pillars, and by this mirror one saw when men-at- 
arms or others came over the sea, ; ' writes Jean d'Outremeuse. 
At night, a fire burned on the top of the tower; it could be seen 
afar, and mariners made use of it as a beacon. However, if the 
spell had changed its form, its creator was the same. It was 
Virgil who, likewise, had predicted that the edifice in which he 
was, would last until a child should be born of a virgin : 

This temple ne'er shall be destroyed, Jamais cest temple n'iert fondu, 

But, in a word, continue there Ainz sera tut dis en estant, 

Until the Virgin child shall bear. Tant que la uirgene avra enfant. 3 

Consequently the tower fell in when Jesus was born. 4 Others 
claimed that enemies of the Roman name, German princes, a 

(in French), by Philippe Lauer in the Miscellanies of Archaeology and History of 
the F? ench School at Rome (April-June, 1899, P- 3 l 7~3^ >1 )' Cf. article of M. 
Roques, completed by G. Paris in Romania, 1901, p. 169. In this poem mention is 
made of the Saracens destroying in 846 the Crescent Castle (Crescentius, chateau 
Saint Ange) and the Mirror-Castle. Same version in the Golden Legend and in the 
Rhymed Chronicle of Philippe Mousket (1243), published by Reiftenberg. In the 
poem of the Destruction of Rome, the Miraour is at the top of Mount Chevrel, 
which is no other than Mount Caprino (see further on, p. 109 ; a valet keeps watch 
at the summit. 

There is the mirror so much spoken of : 

La est li Miraour, dunt horn a tant parle. 

Contrary to the opinion of certain authors, the Tor de Specchi has nothing in 
common with this tower. 

1 See p. 58, note 1. 

2 Croniques des Apostniles and again in Ralph Higden's Polychronicon, I. c. 24 : 
" Item in Capitolio, quod erat altis muris vitro et auro coopertis, quasi speculum 
mundi, sublhniter erectu7ii, ubi consules et senato?'es mundum regebant, erat 
templu7ii Jovis in quo statua J ovis aurea in throno antea erat sedens." 

3 William the Clerk, Poem on the Virgin. Neckam, De Naturis Rerwn, says 
the same : " Quaesitus autem vates gloriosus quamdiu a diis conservandum esset 
illud nobile aedificium respondere consuevit : ' Stabit usque dum pariat virgo.' 
Hoc atitein audientes philosopho applaudentes, dicebatit : l Igitur in aeternum 
stabit.' " At any rate Virgil had written, in the Aeneid, that Rome would last as 
long as the Capitol : 

Dum domus Aeneae Capitolii immobile saxum 
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. 

(Ch. IX. v. 448.) Virgil had, moreover, fabricated, in favour of the Emperor Titus, 
a statue that unmasked all the crimes committed in Rome. {Gesta Romanorum, 
c. 57, ed. Oesterley.) 

4 A_ similar legend had grown up with regard to the temple built on the site now 
occupied by the Aracoeli church. See Appendix. 






LEGENDS 63 

king of Sicily, a king of Hungary, even the Carthaginians, 
knowing that the fate of the city was linked to the preservation 
of the tower, had contrived to send emissaries to the Emperor — 
Octavius is generally the one quoted — to persuade him that the 
tower concealed a fabulous treasure. The Emperor allowed 
them to dig in the foundations, and they undermined the building 
to such good effect that it collapsed, but only after they had had 
time to take flight and escape the anger of the Romans. Thus, 
Augustus was held to be the last of the Emperors of Rome. 1 

1 A. Graf. t. I. p. 198, note 36, quotes a great number of legends similar to that of 
the Salvatio. fin the city of Avila, in Spain, was a bell which began to ring 
whenever a misfortune threatened Christendom. Certain towns possessed a silver 
statue which, standing at the chief entrance, blew a trumpet, as soon as a foreigner 
approached. On the Alexandrian lighthouse, a statue could be seen pointing to the 
sea when a hostile fleet was a night's sail from the city ; and it uttered a piercing 
cry when the fleet was in sight. The cry could be heard miles away. Con- 
stantinople possessed a chain which kept enemies at a safe distance. The Romans 
had placed on Mount Gerizim, to protect themselves from the Samaritans, a bird in 
bronze which cried " Hebraetis I " at their approach. 




THE CAPITOL FROM THE ELEVENTH 
TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 

Progressive Formation of the Senatorial Palace. 

The people of the Middle Ages were the freer to form a 
fantastical idea of the Capitol, as no traces then existed to show 
what it had been. The temples of Juno Moneta, Jupiter Custos, 
and Jupiter Feretrius had been so completely destroyed that, to- 
day, it is impossible, with any certitude, to say in what exact spot 
they stood. Until quite recently, there were discussions as to 
the site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the foundations of 
which have ultimately been discovered. The universal renown 
of the Capitol was one of the causes of its ruin being so complete. 
When the Barbarians entered Rome, their first thought was to 
lay hands on its treasures. The Greeks, commanded by Stilicho, 
were accused of having carried off to Constantinople the golden 
plates with which the doors of its temples were covered, and the 
statues that adorned its interior. 1 Moreover, it was not without 
secret joy that the Christians saw the downfall of the most 
venerated sanctuaries of the false gods ; and they perhaps con- 
tributed to their destruction. As early as the eighth century, 
they hastened to erect, on the site not long before occupied by 
the temple of Juno Moneta, the church of Santa Maria in 
Capitolio, which was partly built with the debris of this temple 
and of others in its vicinity. 2 

The splendours of the Capitol were already much diminished 
in the time of Cassiodorus, when they were classed, almost by 
hearsay, among the marvels of the world. 3 



I. 



155, which did not 



1 Cf. p. S3, and Gregorovius, Italian transl., 1901, 
prevent Stilicho from having his statue in Rome. 

2 See Appendix. 

3 Variar., 7, n 6 ; Migne, 712 ; Mommsen, (Mon. hist, german., t. XII. p. 205) : 
" Capitolia celsa conscendere hue est hum ana ingenia sufierata vidisse." 
H. Grisar, Roma alia fine del Monde Antico, II. 185. Cf. Gregorovius, II. 172. 



PROGRESSIVE FORMATION 65 

Then, for a long period, no further mention is made of the 
Capitol, except in fabulous narrative ; it was nothing more than 
a heap of rubbish, overshadowed by the church of Santa Maria 
and the small monastery attached to that edifice. 1 

In the eleventh century, a dwelling-house was built above the 
Tabularium, which had been razed in its upper portion, though 
its huge layers of stone, on the side towards the Forum, defied 
man's attempts to destroy them and still exist to-day. 2 Nobles 
belonging to the Corsi 3 family established themselves there ; 
and, as was the case with all lordly dwellings, made of what 
they built a stronghold whose situation rendered it inaccessible, 
at least on the front facing the Forum. However, the Emperor 
Henry IV. attacked it, and destroyed it in the year 1084, the 
Corsi being supporters of Pope Gregory VII. 4 If it be true that, 
in the same year, on the 29th of April, he dated from the Capitol 
an Act approving the assignment of half the town of Civitavecchia, 
made by the Count de Sasso to the monastery of Farfa, it was 
out of pure vanity, since he was not resident there. At most, 
could he have only held sittings in the neighbouring monastery 
of Santa Maria, as the Capitoline magistrates, subsequently, so 
often did. 5 After his retreat, the Corsi continued to inhabit their 
castle, whence Pope Paschalis II. (1099-1118) drove them. 6 

The Capitol was already the political centre of mediaeval 
Rome. In 11 18, at the time of the election of Gelasius II., his 
partisans assembled there to deliver him from the hands of the 
Frangipani, who had seized upon his person. 7 Doubtless the 
prefect of Rome resided there, on account of the market that was 
held on the Square of the Capitol, as will be mentioned again. 
In the life of Paschalis II., Pandulphus relates that this Pope, not 
having approved of the choice of a new prefect, those who sided 
with this latter received the sovereign pontiff with cries and 

1 Too much importance must not be attached to the passage of the Cronica 
Casaurense (Murat., II 2 . c. 778) in which it is said that in 850 the Emperor 
Louis II. " Romam reversus, imperiali laurea pro triumpho a dom. P. Adriano et 
omni populo et Senatu Rom. in Capitolio est corouatus" for this chronicle is 
posterior to the constitution of the Senate, and was composed, therefore, more 
than three centuries after the event. Moreover, Pope Adrian crowned Louis II. 
only in 872. 

2 See what has been said about the Tabularium. 

3 It descended perhaps from the Corsican colony which had settled in Rome in 
the time of Pope. Leo IV. (847). 

4 ". . . Quodubi rex Henricus . . . cognovit vehementer expavit, et illico ad 
ecclesiam S. Petri rediens, domo Capitolina et Leonina civitate destructa . ■ . 
(Duchesne, Liber Ponti/i<alis, t. II. p. 368; cf. p. 290). See also Gregorovius, II. 
346. 

5 Gregorovius, II. 358, note 26 and p. 522, note n. The Act is given : "Actum 
civitate Romana aptid Capitolium" 

6 Liber Pontificalis, II. 299 : •' Part'O igitur praelio, sed horrendo satis, captis 
domibus subversisque turribus, adeo stent omnes exterriti ut et patrimonia beati 
Petri caeterarumque ecclesiartim quae injuste occupaverant redderent ..." 

7 /bid., II. 313. 



66 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

stones, when be passed by the foot of the Capitol on Easter 
Monday, during the procession which was customary on that 
day. 1 

An important document furnishes a description of the hill of 
the Capitol at this epoch, namely the Bull by which the Antipope 
Anacletus (1130-1138) 2 presented the Benedictines with the 
monastery of Santa Maria. 3 

According to this document, the greater part of the hill was 
taken up with enclosures, gardens, and trees, both fruit-bearing 
and non-fruit-bearing. No castle is mentioned, but only houses, 
shops, cellars, crypts, with a few remains of ancient buildings, 
ftarietibus, petris et columnis\ the castle of the Corsi had, 
perhaps, not disappeared, but, if it still existed, it seemed of 
such little importance that it was counted among the houses. 

In any case, it had not been replaced by a communal edifice : 
for the Pope gave the Benedictines the whole hill, montem 

1 L. Duchesne, The Author of the Mirabilia (in French), extracted from the 
Miscellanies of Archaeology and History, t. XXIV. (1904). 

2 Pier Leone, who took the name of Anacletus II. 

3 This Bull has been reproduced many times, by P. Casimiro, Mem. Istorichedi S. 
Maria in Araceli, p. 671 : Wadding, Annal. Minor., III. 255, an. 1251 ; Valesio, 
Coll. Calogera, XX. 102 ; Fea, Storia delle Arti del disegno . . . (Rome, 1824, 
trans, completed by the work of Winkelmann), III. 358. This is the text: "Ana- 
cletus . . . Johanni Abbati s. que J oh. Baptae in Capitolio . . . concedimus et con- 
firmainus totum montem Capitolii in integrum, cum casis, crypt is, cellis, curtibus, 
hortis, arboribusque fructiferis et infructiferis, cum porticu C amellariae ,*■ cum 
terra ante Monasterium, qui locus Nun dinarum vocatur, cum fia? ietibus, petris, 
columnis et omnibus ad eum generaliter perlinentibiis, qui istisfnibuster7ninantur 
a primo latere via publica quae ducit per clivum argent arii, qui nunc descensus 
Leonis Probi appellatur, et ab alio latere via publica quae ducit sub Capitolium et 
exinde descendit per limit em et appcndicem super hortos quos olim Hildebrandus 
et Johannes diaconus et heredes J ohannis de Guinizzo tenuerunt usque in templum 
majus quod respicit stiper Elephantum, a tertio latere ripae quae sunt super fontei7i 
de Macello, et exinde revolvendo se per appendices suas super Canaparia usque in 
carnarium s< Theodori ; in quarto vero latere ab eodem carnario ascendit per 
caveam in qua est petraversificata ; exinde descendit per hortum s. Sergii usque 
in hortum qtci est sub Camellaria veniens i>er gradus centum usque ad primtim 
affinein. Circa eundem vero montem concedimus tibi tuisque successoribus domos, 
casalinas, cryptas, ergasteria in mercato, totum praedictum montem Capitolii in 
integrum et caetera omnia qtiae in monte vel circa montem sunt." The donation 
comprised, therefore, besides Mount Capitolinus, part of the circumambient region, 
since it gave, as limits for the transfer, the Montanara Square where the elephant 
was (Elephantus herbarius), the church of S. Theodoro, situated at the foot of the 
Palatine, and the Clivo Argentario on the side of Trajan's Forum. As to the delimi- 
tation of the Capitoline region, see what is said further, page 74. This Act informs 
us also that the hundred steps leading to the Capitol from the Forum were still in 
existence. They disappeared shortly afterwards. As to the word Canaparia, see 
the chapter devoted to the Tarpeian Mount, p. 107. The rights of those possessing 
dwellings in the ancient substructures, in the Tabularium, were protected by a 
Brief of Innocent III., given in 1199, which states that : " Inferioris vero Cajnellariae 
parochiain et ejusdem Camellanae proprietatem ; it a quod nulla injuria infer atur 
habitatoribus ipsius Camellariae ab habitatoribus superioris Cawellariae " 
(Gregorovius, t. II. p. 525). It will be remarked that " in integrum" is repeated 
twice in the Bull. 

a See as to this appellation what is said in the chapter Tabularium. 



PROGRESSIVE FORMA TION 



67 



Capitolii in integrum. It may be objected that, when this Bull 
was renewed by Innocent IV. in 1251, and by Alexander IV. in 
1259, it was drawn up in exactly the same terms, although at 
that time the people certainly possessed on Mount Capitolinus 
a public edifice called a palace, of which the Papacy could not 
dispose, but the attachment of the Church is known to formulas 
already employed ; and the manifest inaccuracy of the Act, at a 
later date, in no wise implies that it did not have its full effect 
when it was first composed. 

The first care of the Romans, when they rose in 1143 against 
the papal power, was to make for the Capitol. Records, how- 
ever, do not say whether their object was to occupy any building 
or stronghold in it, but 







FIG. 12. — FRAGMENT OF THE FLAN CON- 
TAINED IN THE COD. VAT. i960 
(THIRTEENTH CENTURY). 



simply that they de- 
sired to re-establish the 
Senate there. "Romani 
.... in ipso impetu in 
Capitolio convenie?ites 
(or venientes\ a?itequam 
Urbis dignitatem reno- 
vare cicpientes ordifiem 
senatorum . . . coiisti- 
tueruntP x 

Their anxiety to re- 
new the old traditions 
of their past, of which 
they were so immeasur- 
ably proud, no doubt 
urged the Romans to 
make this seizure, much 

more than the necessity of securing a good strategic position 
or of occupying a fortress. This was why they gave to the 
eminently popular and even plebeian assembly which they then 
created the name of Senate. 

What is certain is that the Senate did hold sittings in the 
Capitol. In which of its edifices is unknown ; perhaps in the 
dwelling of the Corsi ; in any case, within an abode that 
Arnaud de Brescia deemed unworthy of their majesty, for he 
hastened to advise the Romans to rebuild the Capitol. 
" Reaediftca?idum Capito/ium, renovandum dignitatem sena- 

1 Otto de Freising, or Freisingen, Chronicon Liber., VII. c. 27; Pertz, Monum. 
germ. Hist., XX. 263. However, Cardinal Boson says, in the life of Celestine II. 
{Liber Pontificalis, II. 385) : " Circa Jinem vero sui fto>itificati<s ftopitlus Romanus, 
novitatis amator, sub velamcnto utilitatis reipublicc, contra ipsius voluntatem, in 
Capitolium senatum erexit." Cf. Gregorovius, II. 487, note 57. With regard to 
the Ordo senatorum, see our work on the " Institutions communales de Rome," 
chap. II. 

F 2 



68 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

toriam, reformandum equestrem ordinem docuil" 1 The advice 
was followed. The palace defied even the attack of Pope 
Lucius II., who was wounded while mounting to the assault, and 
died on the 15th of February, 1145. 2 From the year 11 50, Acts 
emanating from the Senate bear the mention : In Capitolio, in 
consistorio novo palatii? This palace had apparently the out- 
lines and general aspect shown in the rudimentary sketch of it 
contained in the manuscript of the Vatican Library i960. It 
was of two stories, with a single tower flanking it on the left of 
the faqade. An arched door opened between two round 
windows ; and battlements crowned its summit. It was, in 
verity, a fortified retreat prepared for the attacks it was destined 
to suffer. 4 

In consequence of the presence of the Senate, which 
monopolised all public powers, the life of the municipality was 
concentrated in the Capitol. It was on the Square before the 
Senatorial palace that the people assembled to deliberate 
respecting their interests. In 1165, they held counsel there, on 
the occasion of the arrival in Rome of the Emperor Frederick 
Barbarossa ; 5 and again, in 1191, to discuss whether the 
city of Tivoli should be annexed to that of Rome. 6 These 
assemblies had taken the name of Parliaments. In order to 
summon the citizens to them and also to call them to arms, a 
big bell was placed in a belfry, built, so one may believe, beside 
the palace. This bell had been captured from the inhabitants 
of Viterbium ; and, as their country was used as an asylum by 
Patarian heretics, the bell was called the Patarine. 7 It empha- 
sised everything of importance in the municipal life of Rome ; 

1 Otto de Freising, Gesta Frederici I Imp., I. c. 27 ; Monum. germ., XX. 
P- 366 

2 Goffredo di Viterbo and Sicardo, in Muratori, R. Italic. Script., VII. 461 and 
VII. 598 ; Gregorovius, II. 527, note 44. It is true, as Luchaire remarks in the 
Revue Historique, March-April, 1903, p. 227, that neither Boson nor Freising speak 
of violent death. Cf. Tomassetti, La Pace di Roma, Rome, 1896. 

3 Pertz, Mon. germ. Hist., XIX. 242. Treaty of peace signed on the 17th of 
February between the Romans and the Commune of Pisa. Marangone, Tartini, 
R. Italic. Script., I. 373. Cf. Muratori, R. Italic. Script., VI. 171. Discussion is 
possible as to the meaning of the expression Consistorio novo, and it may be said 
that there is a reference to a new room built in an already existing palace, and that 
the expression li palatii novi" would be employed, if the palace had just been 
rebuilt in its entirety Cf. De Rossi, Piante Iconog., p. 82, and Stevenson, Bullettino 
delta Comm. Arch. Com., IX. 91 and p. 18. 

4 See the commentary in this plan in J. B. de Rossi's Piante Iconografiche di 
Roma, Rome, 1879, p. 81. A quite similar plan of Rome is to be found in the Bibl. 
S. Marco or Marciana of Venice. De Rossi has mentioned it, but it is inferior to 
that of the Vatican. See what is said further on, p. 98, about the plan of Sienna. 

5 Otto de Freising, Gesta Frederici I , II. 22; Pertz, XX. p. 407. 

6 " Nos, senatores >almae Urbis, decreto amplissimi ordinis Senatus, acclama- 
tione quoque populi Romani publice Capitolio consistentis, constituimus. ..." 
Murat., Antiq., III. 787. 

7 Moroni, Diz. di Erud., VII. 134; Cancellieri, Le due nuove Campane di 
Campidoglic 



PROGRESSIVE FORMATION 69 

it announced happy or unhappy events, the death of popes, the 
execution of criminals ; x when an execution took place without 
a sentence of justice, the bell was not rung; 2 it summoned 
the magistrates to the meetings of councils held in the palace of 
the Capitol, and called pleaders to the audiences of the court 
that held its sittings there. 3 At a subsequent date, Boniface IX. 
had it hung in the Senatorial palace after this building was 
repaired. In the time of Gregory XIII. it was put up in the 
new belfry which the latter had had built. 4 

For not having held sittings in the Capitol, Charles of Anjou, 
who had been appointed a Senator by the Pope, was most 
severely blamed by the pontiff. 5 And in fact, it was in the 
Capitol that judgment was pronounced in the various trials, 6 and 
that discussions took place on all matters of municipal interest. 
To hold an audience there was to establish its supremacy con- 
clusively in the government of the City. The Capitol, at that 
time, was considered as a fortress. Charles of Anjou dated his 
missives : Rome in arce Capitolii? 

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the Senatorial 
palace underwent an important modification. The loggia was 
then the necessary complement of every public building. The 
people met there to discuss about their interests, sheltered from 
the sun and weather ; and the magistrates used it, when they had 
need of it, as a rostrum. The Capitol being, as already seen, a 
cubic structure of masonry, a proper rostrum was wanting. In 
the year 1299, the two Senators Pietro di Stefano and Andrea 

1 Innumerable examples might be quoted ; the following, relating to a later date, 
is curious : " Die Mercurii 8 azigusti" (1414), writes Antonio di Pietro, " venerunt 
nova in Roma quomodo rex Vinceslaus erat mortutis de qua nova tota Roma . . . 
filit gavisa . . . et ad satisfactionem populi fecerunt pulsare ad gaudium cam- 
panam Capitolii." (Muratori, R. I. Script., XXIV. 1045). T ne same author 
informs us that at this moment the Capitol possessed two oells. "Die X Veneris 
(August, 1414), propter timorem Populi, Dni. Conservatores . . . fecerunt pulsare 
arnbas campanas Capitolii," and further, under date of the 10th of September of the 
same year : " Ciun pulsatione ambarum campanarum Capitolii ..." {ibid.). Cf. 
for the sixteenth century, M. Alberini, II Sacco di Roina, published by Orano, 1902, 
pp. 223, 224, 232. People then used to say " la campana," without any addition, to 
designate the bell of the Capitol. 

2 Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 1059. 

3 As late as 1580, the statutes of the city (Book I., art. LVIII.) prescribed that it 
must ring a quarter of an hour before each sitting, and before each audience. 

4 See p. 150. 

5 Letter written from Perugia, dated May i8th, 1265, in Raynaldus ad an., 
No. 14; Delgiudice, Codice diplo7ii. di Carlo I e II, Maples, 1863, I- 4- Charles 
of Anjou had established himself in the Lateran. In 1268. he installed himself as 
conqueror in the Capitol, after the defeat of Conradin : "Rex Carolus copiosam 
ex suis eligens comitivam. . . . Romam primo repentens rupem Tarpeiam et 
Capitolii saxa victoriosus ascendit." Sabae Malespinae Historia, in Muratori, 
R. Italic. Script., VIII. 864. 

6 " Cives Romani et aliae personae in capitolina Curia litigantes." Act of the 
15th of May, 1269, in Vitale, Stor. dipl. dei Senatori, p. 165. Cf. Pertz, XXVIII, 
611 for the year 1294. 

7 Delgiudice, ut supra, II., 203, 204, 210. 



7o THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

di Normanni undertook the construction of one. 1 It is probable 
that the funds required for this considerable expenditure were 
obtained by the amounts thenceforward to be stopped out of the 
Senators' salaries. The statutes of 1363, which for the most 
part merely confirmed and codified ancient usages, imposed this 
due and fixed it at a hundred florins, z>., at an eighteenth of the 
salary. 2 Even before that date, Cola di Rienzo had exacted 
the same sum from all barons having exercised senatorial func- 
tions, no doubt because they had acquired the habit of escaping 
the obligation. 3 



The Carroccio. 

When the Emperor Frederick II. presented the Romans with 
the war chariot, the carroccio of the Milanese which he had cap- 
tured at the battle of Cortenova (1237), it was transported to the 
Capitol and kept there with the care somewhat imperiously 
required by the Emperor from his distant subjects ; 4 and a com- 
memorative inscription was placed in the part of the palace 
where now stands the modern bell-tower. 5 After being lost for 
centuries, this inscription was recovered in 1727, according to 
what Cancellieri says, 6 but it was broken into three pieces. In 
1744, the Communal Council decided to place it in the inner 
courtyard of the Senatorial palace, on the architrave of the gate 
that opened on the side of the prisons. 7 To-day, it may be seen 
in the staircase of the bell-tower, with other inscriptions and 
standard linear measures. 8 



The Market. 

The open space before the Capitol, between the Aracoeli 
church and the Monte Caprino, exactly in the inter mo ntium, 

1 La Loggia del commune di Roma, article of De Rossi and Camillo Re, // 
Campidoglio e le sue adiacenze nei secolo XIV. Bullettino delta Commissione 
Archeol. Comunale di Ro7ua an. X. 1882, pp. 97 and 130. 

2 Book III., article I. As the Senatorial magistracy lasted only six months, and 
there were usually two senators, the total sum employed for the maintenance and 
repairing of the palace came to four hundred florins. 

3 Vita de Cola de Rienzi, attributed to Fiortifiocca, Bracciano, 1624, p. 52. 

4 Chronicle of Francesco Pipini, in Muratori, R. Italic. Script., IX. 658, and 
Antiq., II. 491. When sending the carroccio, the Emperor recommended the 
Romans to keep it carefully, and to threaten with death anyone that should seek to 
destroy it. (Antic/iitd Long., Milan, 1792, Dis. XVIII., II Carroccio', Pertz, Mon. 
germ. Hist., XXVI. 86.) 

5 Muratori, Antiq. Med. Aevi., t. II. p. 401, Disc. XXVI. 

6 Le due Campane, p. 20. 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 39, fol. 947. Sitting of the 3rd of December, 
1744. 8 Forcella, I. n. 246 ; Tofanelli, p. 139. 



THE MARKET 71 

must have been used as a market from very ancient times. In 
the Bull of Anacletus already mentioned, it is said that the hill 
of the Capitol is given to the Benedictine monks cum terra ante 
monasterium qui locus Nundinarum vocatur . . . domos .... 
ergasteria in mercato . . . l About 1 130, therefore, a market, with 
its accompanying booths and stalls, existed on the Square of the 
Capitol. Grains, vegetables, and other commodities of small 
bulk, and easily transportable to the spot, were sold there, whilst 
the cattle-market was held below, in the Forum, at that time 
called the campo vaccino, from this circumstance. The churches 
of S. Giovanni and S. Biagio received the epithet in Mercatello, 
on account of their proximity to the market-place. 2 The consuls 
of the corporations, still rare at this epoch, were obliged to hold 
their court at the foot of a tower which stood not far from there, 
the Torre del Mercato del Cancelliere? A fine of a hundred 
lire, subsequently doubled, punished the consuls who ven- 
tured to infringe the prescription. 4 This tower was destroyed at 
the time of the combats which followed the entry of the Emperor 
Henry VII. into the city. At least, we read in the Rendages 
de Gile? under date of the 28th of May, 1312 : " Item, for pikes, 
hooks and other instruments brought this day and in this place 
to demolish the tower of the ' Cancelier,' VII florins and III 
sols." What is certain is that Pope Boniface IX. (1 389-1404) 

1 See p. 66, note 3. 

2 The church of S. Giovanni is situated on the Piazza Aracoeli, near the palace of 
Muti-Bussi. It bears at present the name of S. Venanzio de Camerinesi. The 
church of S. Biagio is situated near the steps of S. Maria Aracoeli, in the Via della 
Pedacchia. It bears the name of B. Rita (Armellini, Le Chiese di Roma, pp. 546, 
548). On the other side of the hill was a church called S. Lorenzo a pie del 
Mercato, which has since become S. Lorenzo a Monti or S. Lorenzolo ai Monti or 
Lorenzo de Ascesa (Armellini, p. 164). The whole quarter bore the name of 
in pede mercati', this name is mentioned in an Act relating a right possessed by the 
hospital of S. Giovanni, called Sancta Sanctorum, over a house situated in the 
neighbourhood. " Una domus sita in pede Merchati quam habent Johannes 
Stefanelli ceapoli et heredes quondam Pauli ceapoli, ad respondendwn societati 
S. Sanctorum, annuatim in festo Assumptionis de medio mense Augusti Flor. V. 
intra ambos." (Archivio di Stato, Catasto di Sancta Sanctorum del 1435, fol. 93.) 

3 Villani (Book X. c. 66) : " La delta e nobile torre cJi era sopra la Mercatantia, 
a pie del Campidoglio che si chiamava la torre del Cancel Here." It must have 
occupied almost the site of the Astalli palace of to-day. 

4 Statutes of 1603, Book III., art. LXXV : " Quod consules artium Urbis reddant 
jus a Turre Mercati supra versus Capitolium." An obligation confirmed by the 
statutes of the corporation of the woolmongers, dated the 26th of October, 1388. 
" Et quod consules dicte artis . . . debeant sedere et jus reddere a Turri pedis 
Mercati supra versus Capitolium et per totum forum secundum formam 
staUitorum Urbis." (E. Stevenson, Statuti della Lana, p. 162.) Gomez Albornoz, 
a Roman senator, ratifying the statutes of the Mercanti 1377, expressly stipulates 
that the consuls shall render justice in this place. (Gatti, Stat, de Mercanti, p. 109. 
Cf. Gregorovius, III. 240.) The statutes of 1519-1523 again impose this obligation 
(Book III., art. XL.) ; but it seems that the tower was no longer in existence. 

5 The Rendages were accounts kept by Giles (Egidio) of the expenses of the 
imperial Court and annotated by him in French. (See Gregorovius, III. 238, note 43, 
and for the passage following, p. 240, note 60.) 



72 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

had it razed ; but it was rebuilt shortly after, and lasted a long 
time. 1 

This market was a dangerous neighbourhood for the Capitoline 
magistrates. In 1353, for instance, on the 15th of February, the 
people proceeded in a mass thither, as corn was becoming scarce. 
They found but a small stock of supplies ; and what there was 
only at a very dear price, a state of things for which they held 
the Senators responsible. One of these, Stefanello Colonna, 
succeeded in escaping ; the other, Bertoldo Orsini, was stoned to 
death. 2 

Each shopkeeper, each dealer had his stall, his bench, which 
belonged to him personally, and which was obtained through a 
procedure of sales and assignments. Before the stalls were 
sorts of porticoes where the goods on sale were exposed. 3 

In the fifteenth century, the market was held once a week, on 
Wednesday. But, at that epoch, the centre of the City life had 
been displaced, and was in the quarter of the Piazza Navona. 
The chief corporations had each their street where most of the 
shops of each art or trade were together. Consequently, there 
was an outcry for the removal of the market of the Capitol to 
the Piazza Navona. 

Guillaume d 5 Estouteville, Cardinal de Rohan, had promised the 
removal as well as many other things, with a view to obtaining 
the office of camerlingo, after the death of Cardinal Latino 
(Orsini). He kept none of his promises except this one, says 
Infessura. 4 On the 3rd of September, 1477, the market was held 
for the first time on the Navona square. 

1 Moroni, Diz. di Erudiz., XLIV. 215. 

2 Matteo Villani., 1st., Lib. III. c. 57. Cf. Gregorovius, III. 423. 

3 In the inventory of the property of the S. Giovanni hospital, drawn up in 1462, and 
which is in the Archivio di Stato, under the significant denomination Mare77iagnu77i, 
are the following mentions (fol. 63). An. 1332. Johannes Nardonins Notarins 
Regionis Columnae donavit hospitale (S. Joannis) porticale cum quatuor furcis et 
lafiidibus unius banco et uno lapide et unum alium archum seu porticale nbi sunt 
duo furce et unam domum sitam juxta palatium Capitolii in foro publico juxta 
res Salutii, res Butii Bonaguara et alios fines. — An. 1344. Domina J ohanna uxor 
Francisci Johannis Vari etjilii et filie fecerunt refutationem hospitali de juribus 
super ditobus lapidibus de Mercato simul juncte cum fiorticali supra ea quae sunt 
Francisci Mar gani. {Ibid., fol. 263.) — An. 1392. Johannes filius Btitii Jacobelli 
. . . vendideruntPetroTramundido77iumter}inea7nsolaratamettegulata7iicum 
sala et ca77iera, colu77inato et stacio a7ite se in platea in contracta Mercati, cui ab 
uno latere tenet Raucius Ca77iicia, ab alio Jacobellus Marrosi ante J> late a Mercati, 
pro pretio LXV Flor. au7-i. {Ibid., fol. 264.) — An. 1393. Super do77io de Merchato 
ubi vendunt vasa. Do77tina Andrea uxor Bonanni Cari7icie donavit Margherite 
filie sue uxor Nicolai Speczia 77taczo do77iw7i terrinea77i et solar at am cu77i lovio ante 
se discoperto, et p07'ticali ante se cu77i locis seu staciis ante se ubi venduntur vasa 
tewinea in die fori, de quibus locis wius vadit usque ad duos lapides fixos in terris. 
— An. 1441. Do77ii7ia Jacoba uxor Johamiis Paftarelli reliqtiit Bartholo77teo jilio 
Vannocie filie sue do77tu77i de Mercato. {Ibid., 264, 265.) In the Act of the confra- 
ternity Sancta Sanctorum, quoted above, p. 71, note 2, we read : Tres lapides si77iul 
juncti in loco Merchati in quibus soliti sunt ve7idere calzectarii qui nunc vacant. 

4 Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 83. The Communal Council, which was beginning 
to be organised, had made itself the interpreter of the general sentiment. 






THE MARKET 



73 



However, for a long time still, shops continued to exist on the 
old site of the market. Infessura relates that, on the 21st of 
January, T486, the report of the assassination of Pope Innocent 
VIII. being circulated, hardly any business 1 was done. In 1607 
a fruit woman established herself there with the authorisation of 
the Communal Council. 2 

The Market-place, as far as the Torre Mercati, formed, with 
the portion of the hill occupied by the Senatorial palace and the 




FIG. 13.— THE CAPITOL SEEN FROM THE FORUM IN THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY. RECONSTITUTION OF MARK SADLER. ( Vestigi delfc 

Antic hit a di Roma, pi. I.) 



S. Maria Aracoeli church, a district distinct from the rest of the 
City, as regarded matters of justice. Guilty persons could be 

1 ' ' Propter quod tota Urbs tremuit et magno cum timore aliquod spatim stetit ; 
et apothecarii omnes eorum apothecas clattserunt et hi qui in foro erant capitolino 
tanto fuertmt timore affecti ut vix medietatem rertan, quas vendendi causa 
exposuerant, potuerunt recolligere ; palathcjn ipsum Capitotii, ubi ego eram, in- 
continenti clausum et diligenter custoditum extitit." (Page 197.) 

2 Act of the Council dated 1607, renewing to the widow bantina and her sons the 
right accorded in i6ot to her husband, Nicola Sammaresco, to sell fruit: usum 
platee existenti in pede descensus Capitolii et schalarum Araceti, ita tct dicta platca 
uti, frui et potiri in eorum excrcitiis . . . possint. (Arch. Stor. Capit. , Cred. I. 
vol. 31, fpl. 212.) 



74 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

proceeded against, within its boundaries, by way of inquisition. 1 
"Item de excessibus commissi s in Curia Capitolii. Hem de 
excessibus commissis a pede turris mercati supra in pla?io 
capitolii. I?i platea Sa?icte Marie de araceli a sancto Sergio et 
Baccho et a pede viefave toste supra versus capitolium et in piano 
capitolii." (Statutes of 1363, Bk. II. art 5, De Inquisitionibus.) 
On the other hand, those who afforded refuge in it to malefactors 
were punished with an exceedingly heavy fine, fifty lires. (Bk. 
II. art 68, § 3, De receptaloribus homicidarum et latronum. 2 ) This 
article gives a more complete delimitation than that contained 
in the preceding one, concerning the district depending on the 
Curia Capitolina and submitted to an especial government : yet 
they do not quite agree with each other. In the second article 
is the following : " Quod quicumque de contrata mercati seu de 
habitantibus in contrata mercati vel in contrata infra scripta 
receptare retifiere presumpserit in domo sua aliquem qui 
offenderit venientem vel redeuntem a Capitolio a sancta Maria 
curti a domo nutii Candarulis a Sancto Johanne de merchato 
usque ad Capitolium super versus Capitolium et a domo 
taglientorum versus s. Mariam de aracoeli usque ad Capitolium 
et a carcere ss. Petri et Pauli versus fabam tostam et a sa?icto 
Sergio et Baccho versus Capitolium et a domo de roccia versus 
Capitolium pla7tum et a domibus russorum versus planum et a 
s. Nicolao de funariis versus planum et Capitolium" Of these 
various topographical indications, some only can be identified 
with any certainty ; but they are sufficient to clearly determine 
the district in question. The church of S. Maria de Curte 
(there are several of this name in Rome), which was demolished 
in 1594 to enlarge the nunnery of Tor de' Specchi, was near the 
rostrum of their church. That of S. Giovanni in Mercato or 
Mercatello still exists under the name of S. Venanzio de 
Camerinesi, opposite the Muti palace, as has been said. It 
was near there that the Chancellor's Tower stood, which has 
just been spoken of. The prison of St. Peter and St. Paul is the 
ancient Mamertine prison, on the site of which had been built a 
church dedicated to St. Peter, and since replaced by the church 
of S. Giuseppe de Falegnami. The Via Faba Tosta seems to 
have been a road skirting the foot of the Tabularium and join- 
ing the Via Capitolina ; it may be believed to have passed over 
the Arch of Septimus Severus and must have had almost the 
same course as the Clivus Capitolinus, in its first portion. The 
commencement of it is visible in the reconstitution by Sadler 

1 That is to say that justice could itself undertake a prosecution, without being 
moved to it by the complaint of a third party. 

2 It will be seen further on that the Capitoline palace was itself submitted to an 
especial set of regulations. 






THE MARKET 75 

given above, and it appears also to be very clearly indicated in 
a reconstitution by Ficoroni. 1 An allusion is perhaps made to 
this road in the Bull by Anacletus : " Via publico, quae ducit sub 
CapitoliumP The church of S. Sergio e Bacco has completely 
disappeared ; but it may be asserted to have stood between the 
Arch of Septimus Severus and the Rostra, on the Via Faba Tosfa, 
not far from the temple of Saturn. 2 The della Rossia house was, 
doubtless, so called on account of the street of this name which 
traversed Mount Caprino. The house of the Rossi was situated 
near the church of S. Maria della Consolazione, at the foot of the 
hill. The church of S. Nicola de Funariis has become the S. 
Orsola a Tor de 5 Specchi, in the street of this name, on the other 
side of Mount Caprino. Thus, the district dependent on the 
Capitoline jurisdiction comprised the eastern portion of the hill, 
almost as far as the middle of Mount Caprino, with a piece taken 
in, on the side of the City, extending to the Market Tower ; and, 
while somewhat more limited in area, it differed but little from 
that formerly assigned to the monks of Aracoeli by the Bull of 
Anacletus. 3 

1 Francesco de Ficoroni, Vestigia e Rarita di Roma autica, Rome, 1744, plate 
on page 62. 

2 Designs of Heemskerck, Berlin Kupferstich-Kabinet, 71, D. 2, n. 12, 56, 80. 

3 See the exceedingly conclusive treatise of Camillo Re, II Caiiipidoglio^ p. 117 
and the following ones ; the Liber Pontificalis, and Armellini. 




THE CAPITOL IN THE FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY 

Transformation of the Senatorial Palace. 

The jubilee year of 1300 brought such a number of pilgrims 
to Rome that the bridge of St. Angel's was crowded with 
them. 1 The temporary effect of this influx of strangers was to 
swell the resources of the public treasury ; and, by means of 
the money so obtained, the Capitoline palace was completely 
restored. It was flanked with a second tower. Indeed, the 
alterations carried out, at this time, were so considerable that 
the palace might be regarded as entirely rebuilt. In 1303, the 
Senator Guido di Pilo dated his judgments and decrees : In 
palatio novo Captolii! 1 In other respects, the palace retained 
the aspect of a fortress. It possessed towers, battlemented 
walls, a double enclosing outer wall, and a wooden bridge, 3 the 
usefulness of which was more than once experienced during those 
troublous times. 4 Recent excavations have shown that this 
edifice stood above the Tabularium, like the castle of the Corsi, 
on the side of the Via Capitolina ; a few vestiges of foundation 
works have been brought to light, as also some mural paint- 
ings, one of which represents the geese of the Capitol. 5 

The Emperor Henry VII., who had taken possession of the 
Capitol by main force, at the time of his entry into Rome in 

1 Dante, Inferno, ch. XVIII. v. 28. See Commentary of Cornaldi, Rome, 1888, 
p. 162. 

2 Gregorovius, III. 199, note 83. The Act is that of the 17th of April, 1303. 

3 Vita de Cola de Rienzi da Tommaso Fiortifiocca, Bracciano, 1624, p. 265. On 
the author, see Zefirino Re, La Vita di Cola di Rienzo. 

4 The aspect of the Capitol, at this date, is shown on the seal of the Bull of Louis 
of Bavaria. The golden Bull of Louis of Bavaria was published for the first time by 
Huillard-Breholles in the Memoirs of the Society of the Antiquarians of France, 
1872, p. 82. It is preserved at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

5 F. Gerardi, Scoperta di pregevoli avanzi dell antico palazzo comunale stil 
Campidoglio. Bulletino della Comm. Arch. Comunale, 1899 (an. XXVII. ), fasc. 1, 
p. 81. These paintings are at present in the large hall of the Senatorial palace. 



TRANSFORMATION OF SENATORIAL PALACE 77 

1310, 1 and had held sittings in it and appointed magistrates, 2 
stripped it, in 1320, of all its defences. 3 In order to give it 
back something of its strength, and with a view to warding off 
an attack, the tribune Cola di Rienzo, who made it the seat of 
his government on May 20th, 1347, took care to partly wall up 
and partly board up a colonnade which was perhaps that of the 
loggia. 4 Justice was rendered in the hall of the ground floor, 
which was supported by pillars. 5 It was, however, in the upper 
hall that the Senator held his audiences. The Statutes of 1363 
laid this down as a prescription. 6 The Council presided over 
by the Senator, the assectamentinn, assembled in it. r This hall 
received its light though wide doorways, perhaps three in 
number, 8 leading out on to balconies. From one of them, 
Rienzo harangued the people who had been stirred up against 
him and who attacked him with arrows and stones (October 
8th, 1354). 9 These doorways gave issue on to the fagade and 
on the opposite side of the palace. 10 Other rooms there were 
in which the Senator's judge assessor, his lieutenant, and 
other officers held their sittings. 11 From the bridge already 
mentioned, a staircase mounted to the chief entrance. It was 
reconstructed in 1348, at the same time that the staircase of 

1 Gregorovius, III. 228. 

2 Rex fecit smatorem et iusticias in Capitolio sedens. (Archiv. Stor., Ital., ser. 
II. vol. II.; App., p. 332 ; Baluze, Misc., I. 127.) 

3 Montagnani-Mirabili, Pietro Paolo, II Museo Capitolino , Rome, 1828, p. 28. 

4 l ' Puvifece stecconiare lo palazzo de Campitzioglio tra le colonne e chhtselo de 
lennamme.'' Vita de Cola de Rienzi, Bracciano, 1624, p. 53, ed. Camillo Re, 

P- 53- 

5 Lello Capocci was beheaded : " Intus in palatio Capitolii ad fiedem secundae 
columnae ubi tenetur ratio »." Ant. di Pietro, inMuratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 
1055. Likewise : " Actum in palacio Capitolii in sala inferiori ubi ius redditur." 
Approbation of the statutes of the woollen art, dated the 4th of August, 1389. 
Stevenson, Statuti dell arte delta Lana, p. 53. 

6 In aula superiori palatii faciat (senator) sui copia?n et prestet omnibus 
audientiam. Book III., art. XII. Likewise: " Laurentius de Ainedeis notarius 
syndicus procurator cojnmnnis Tyburis ad ostium scalarum sale secunde palatii 
Capitolii cum iutroitu ad magnificum virum Johannem de Cerronibus senatorem 
ztr bis habere non possit protestatus. ..." (6 June 1352). Archiv. Stor. Capit., 
Prot. 649, 3, Serroneus Paulus, note. The Senator, however, sometimes rendered 
justice, as will be seen, at the door of the church of Santa Maria Aracoeli. 

7 " Actum in sala maiori palatii capitolii ubi consuetum est fieri Assectamen- 
tum." Stevenson, ubi supra, p. 24. 

8 Muntz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes, I. 149. It concerns, however, an 
Act dated in the year 1451. C. Re, Bullettino della Commis. Archeol. Co?n. di 
Roma, an. X., 1882, p. 107. 

9 Tantefuero le valestrate e li verruti che a li baiconi non poteo durare. Vita, 
p. 262. The expression li baiconi is to be noted. 

1° In the narrative of the death of the tribune, Pelicciaro is made to go alternately 
from one balcony to the other, to spy Rienzo, who was seeking to escape by the rear 
of the palace, and so to inform the people on the Square of the.-e endeavours. 

11 October 18th, 1368. " Actum in palatio Capitolii in Camera D. Johannis de 
Amelia Collateralis p7'edicti Senatoris (Gentilis de Varano) ubi assectamenium 
factum fuit de mandato D. Senatoris" (2 July, 1399). They also held sittings else- 
where. "Actum in Capitolio apud altare inter Cancellos sale superioris " (Gatti, 
Statuti dei Mercanti di Roma, p. 98, 120). 



78 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

S. Maria Aracoeli was built, with stones taken from the ruins of 
the temple of Quirinus. 1 

It was on these steps that the people held their parliaments. 
For the most part, the crowd overflowed on to the Square. 2 

Misdeeds committed in the precincts of the palace were 
punished with a fourfold penalty. 3 

The tribune Rienzo had caused a chapel to be erected in the 
great hall of the palace, " una bella caftella, rinchiusa con ferri 
stag7iati." 4 

Under the pontificate of Boniface IX. (i 389-1 404), and by 
his order, important alterations and other works were executed 
in the Capitol, which had been partly destroyed in the fire 
kindled by the rioters at the time of the murder of Cola di 
Rienzo. The rooms to be used by the Senator and his judges 
were rebuilt ; but the construction was in brick, and very ugly. 

When Boniface IX. entered Rome, it was as its master. He 
imposed laws on the Romans, and insisted on the Senator 
being, thenceforth, undisturbed by the bannerets and other 
popular magistrates, 5 in the functions he exercised. In order 
that the representatives of his authority whom he sent to sit in 
the Capitol — that is to say, the Senators whose nominations he 
kept as his prerogative — should be assured a peaceful posses- 
sion of power, he had the two towers strengthened, and perhaps 
raised higher, which already existed on the western front of the 
Capitol, but which had been dismantled, if not completely 

1 " Quidain Otto Mediolanensis senator Urbis expoliavit temftlu77i(Quirini) etex 
ornamentis facti sunt gradus in Aracoeli et gradus quibus ascenditur in aedijicitim 
Capitolii." De Rossi, Studi e documenti, an. III. 60. Cf. Camillo Re, p. 100. The 
reference is to Ottone, who exercised his magistracy in 1348 (Olivieri, p. 222). The 
temple of Quirinus was situated on the Quirinal, to the north of the Alta Semita. 
The steps leading from the ground to the Square of the Capitol were constructed only 
in the sixteenth century. Previously, access to the palace was obtained by paths 
winding up the sides of the hill. The absence of the staircase is clearly visible in 
De Rossi's plans. 

2 " Congregato magnijico populo in filatea ante fialathwi Capitolii ad sonu77t 
ca77ipanae et voce77i praeconu77i " (19 August, 1309). Pfluck-Hartung, Iter Italicui7i, 
p. 603. "In nomine do77iini Congregato Magni/ico populo ro77iano in scalis et 
platea ante palatiu77i Capitolii de 77iandato Mag. dom. Anibaldi do77iini Riccardi 
de AnibaldiS) Riccardi do77iini Fortisbrachii dejiliis l/rsi, dei gratia Regiorum in 
urbe Vicarioru77i, ad sonum ca77ipane et voce77t praeconu77i ad parla77ientu77i ui 
moris est. . . . " (4 May, 1321). Archiv. delta R. Soc. Ro77iana di St. Patria, 
X. 187, Gamurrini G. Docu77ie7iti del! Anglica. " Congregato 77iagnifico et 
excelso populo ro77ia7io ad parla77ientu77i i7i scalis etplatea ante pal atiu77i Capitolii." 
(Bull of the year 1354 ; Camillo Re. p. 100.) Many other cases might be cited in 
which the people assembled to deliberate in front of the Capitol, and on the steps c f 
the palace even, since that was the usual place for their meetings. 

3 "Si vero quis in palatio Capitolii a pri77ia porta supra . . . malleficiu77i 
co77i77tictatur tunc pene quadrupiice7itur." Statutes of 1363, Bk. II., art. in. 

4 Vita, p. 112. Cf. note 11 on preceding page. 

5 Theiner, Codex diplo77t. S. Sedis, III. 78 ; Vitale, p. 601. Convention signed 
between the Pope and the Romans on the 8th of August, 1393, violated by the 
people immediately after and imposed by force in 1394. Villari, Saggi storici, 
Bologna, 1890, p. 288. 



THE LIONS OF THE CAPITOL 79 

destroyed by the Emperor Henry VII. 1 Thereafter, they bore 
the name of the towers of Boniface IX. These two towers are 
still standing, and frame the gate that formerly led to the prisons 
and that to-day give access to the offices of the various municipal 
services. 

The Lions of the Capitol. 

An old tradition enjoined on the Romans the duty of pos- 
sessing a lion. " Roma formam leonis habet quia ceteris bestiis 
quasi rex praeest^ wrote Honorius of Autun, in the twelfth 
century, in his treatise on images. 2 So, for a long time, a living- 
lion was kept in the Capitol. The "keeper of the lion" is men- 
tioned among the persons belonging to the family of Gulielmo 
Stendardo, the Vice-Senator, in two missives of Charles of 
Anjou, Senator of Rome. These missives are dated in 1283 
and 1284. 3 The Statutes of 1363 appropriate part of the pro- 
ceeds of the games of the Testaccio to the pay of the keeper, 
"as long as the lion shall live." 4 No doubt the animal's end 
seemed near at the moment ; for the Capitoline magistrates 
were just then despatching an embassy to their Florence col- 
leagues, to beg them for one of the lions they possessed. 5 

But in 1408 the lion happened to escape. The marshal's 
patrol met him at the foot of the Capitol staircase ; and the 
officers ordered him to be caught, says the chronicler, 
and put back in his cage, where there was another lion. 6 In 
141 4, the lion killed several children that had come too near 
him ; and, in spite of the veneration in which he was held, it 
was decided to do away with him. He was put to death one 
Sunday morning in November, and his carcass was taken to the 
dwelling of the chief of the Ripa quarter, where he was buried. 7 

However, it was not possible that so venerable a tradition 
should be abandoned ; and it was not long before another lion 

1 Th. de Nyem, De Scismate, ed. Erler, p. 142. These towers are visible on the 
seal of the Bull of Louis of Bavaria. 

2 De Imag. mundi, I. 28 ; Patrol., CLXXII. 

3 Vitale, Storia diploni. del Senator!, p. 100, 19T. 

4 " Quod tubatores, banditores . . . custosque leonis cum leo in Capitolio vixerit 
etfuerit exfiediens pabula prebere leoni de pecunia ludi predicti." Book III., 
art. LXXX. 

5 Letter of seven Reformers of the Banderesi and of the four chiefs of the com- 
pany of Cross-bowmen to the Art-Priors and the Gonfalonier of Justice, dated the 
8th of April, 1363. "... Quatenus penes vos ctiraret efficaciter operari ut vestro 
beneficio aliguem ex vestris leonibus habere possimus in alma Urbe tenendum, icti 
nobis semper est hactenus consuetum." C. Re, p. 103, note 2 ; the Florentines 
possessed several lions. Some years before, four had been born, two males and two 
females. Matteo Villani, Book V. 68. They were an object of pride, and had a 
special keeper. Perrens, III. 366. 

6 Antonio di Pietro, Muratori, R. Italic Script., XXIV. 995. 

7 Ibid., col. 1050. 



80 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

was bought, who soon died. He left a keeper that his loss 
deprived of a living. This keeper complained all the more 
loudly as he had been appointed for life. He recalled his long 
services, proved that he had no other resources ; and the result 
was that the Conservators maintained him in his functions. 
For the rest of his days, he was keeper to a lion that no longer 
-existed, with all the advantages and profits appertaining to 
such an office. 

Later, there was a keeper of the horse of Marcus Aurelius, 
which was in bronze. 1 

The statutes drawn up in 1469 speak of the lion ; but it does 
not follow that there was one alive at this period ; for the new 
text was, in many parts, copied literally from the old one, 
without any regard to actual circumstances. 2 

Occasionally, the lion of the Capitol served as an instrument 
of punishment. In 1328, the Prior of the Augustines was cast 
into his den for having refused to celebrate the mass at 
St. Peter's, on the coronation of Louis of Bavaria. 3 

In the Capitol also were figured representations of the 
emblematic lion. One was painted above the entrance of the 
second gate of the Capitol. It was a ferocious-looking animal, 
gazing pityingly at a small dog lying at its feet. The following 
inscription explained the symbol : 

Iratus recole quod nobilis ira leonis 
In sibi prostratos se negat esse feramA 

It was usual to show this image as a lesson, doubtless, and a 
warning to each new senator that entered on his office. 5 

The other representation was a lion in stone, or rather a 
group composed of a lion attacking a horse. It was placed at 
the top of a large staircase giving access to the Capitoline 
palace, before the work advised by Michael Angelo had modified 
the facade. 6 It was by the side of this lion that criminal 

1 " Privilegiu7ii Do7ninorum Conservatorwn . . .pro Antonio Iacolelli Tutii Toni 
custode leonis et officialis ad vitam, de confirmatione officii sui. . . . Dat. Apud 
Aracoeli XXV, -jbris MCCCCXXI. — Exigit trie devotionis et fidelitatis sinceritas 
. . . tu qui cu77z custos leonis . . . ad vita77t existens. Leo dicti palatii que77t 77tagno 
te77ipore custodiveras 77tortuus est 7iec habeas ad p7~aesens cui pabula Prebeas prout 
prebere teneris. ..." {Arckivio di Stato, Reg. della Camera Capitolina, an. 1421- 
1425, fol. XLVII.) In 1420, the keeper of the lion received a ducat and two-thirds 
per half-year ; three ducats and a half were devoted to the keep of the lion and to the 
purchase of a living animal which was given him every month. Archiv. Seg. Vat., 
Div. Camer. , vol. VI., fol. 260. See p. 140. 

2 In the statutes of 1519-1523, however, no mention is made of the living lion. 

3 Gregorovius, III. 297 ; C. Re, p. 104. 

4 Corpus Inscriptio7iu77i Latinanwi, vol. VI., part 5, p. 4, No. 3 ; Forcella, Isc. 
di Ro77ia, I. n. 6. 

5 Ch. Huelsen, Bilder aus der Geschichte des Kapitols, p. 17. Signorili says : "In 
ingressu secundae portae Capitolii et in li77iite scriptu77t, etfertur de 77iore ostendi 
solit7i77t cuilibet senatori cu77i officiiwi intrabat." C. Re, p. 105. 

fi In the biography of Cola di Rienzo already quoted, p. 43, 268, we read : " Fo 



THE LIONS OF THE CAPITOL 81 

sentences were carried out. On market-days, certain male- 
factors and insolvent debtors were made to sit there, as on a 
pillory, with mitres on their heads, on which was indicated their 
offence, their faces being smeared with honey. 1 Those who were 
condemned had sometimes to salute the lion as representing 
the greatness of Rome. 
This group was still in its position, in 1500, when the 




FIG. 14. — GROUP OF THE LION AND THE HORSE BEFORE ITS 

restoration. (de cavaleriis, Antiq. Stat. Urbis Romae 
Liber ) Rome, 1746, pi. 79.) 



Milanese painter Prospettivo saw it. 2 On the demolition of 
the staircase, it was transported to the Square of the Capitol, 

Martino desmantalo la soa caftfia . . . e legatole le mano dereto, fo fatto inni- 
nocchiare ne le scale, canto to Hone, ne to loco usato. — Preso {Cola) J>er le braccia 
liberamente fo addutto fte tutte le scale sensa offesafino a to luoco de to Hone dove li 
aitri la sententia vuodo ; dove sententiato li aitri havea la fo addu^o." See also 
Cancellieri, Mercato e Lago, p. 7. The place where this lion was placed is very 
clearly marked in an engraving reproduced by Michael is, Collezione caJ>:tolina di 
Antichitd. Mittheilungen der K. Deutschen Arch. Instituts, Rome, i89i, pi. II. 
in fine. 

1 "... Debeat fioni eques in leone marmoris existente in scalis CaJ>itolii cum 
quadam mitra in caftite in qua sit scriptus, inobediens . . . etfaciem habeat untavi 
de melle et debcat manere ibi eques fuerit et duraverit mercatum." Bk. II., 
art. CXX. See the chapter treating of executions. 

2 Po suite scale delta gran giusticia 
Vn tozze d'un caual freso net ventre 
Dun leon chinho da lui leticia. 

Atii Ace. Lincei, 1875-76, p. 51 ; G. Govi. See p. 134, note 3. 

G 



82 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

on the side towards the Aracoeli church. 1 But it did not 
remain long in this spot ; for, at the commencement of his 
reign (1592), Clement VIII. had the foundations of the palace 
laid which abuts on the church. The group was then put 
opposite, in the palace of the Conservators, beside a statue of 
the Emperor Constantine, which was, before then, on the steps 
leading from the Square of the Capitol to Mount Caprino. In 
1594, the sculptor Ruggiero Bescape was commissioned, in 
return for a sum of three hundred crowns, to restore the head, 
neck, and legs of the horse, and also the parts lacking to 
the lion, in order that the group might regain its primitive 
appearance. 2 

For a long time, the lion remained in the courtyard of the 
palace, exposed to the weather. It was there in 1757. The 
Communal Council then inquired what would be the cost of its 
definite restoration and removal to one of the rooms of the 
palace ; but, on learning that the work would involve an 
outlay of six hundred crowns, they decided to leave matters as 
before. 3 

Subsequently, the group was placed on an indifferent sort of 
socle, under the covered portico of Clement XL, in the 
courtyard of the palace of the Conservators. 4 Now, it has been 
transported into a higher courtyard, the one in which stands the 
reconstituted Forma Urbis. 



Poetical Coronations in the Capitol. 

petrarch. 5 

The importance attributed to the poetical coronations cele- 
brated in the Capitol proves the fascination it excercised, afar as 
well as near. Indeed, the recollection of ceremonies of this kind 

1 Aldrovandi, Delia statue antiche, p. 270. " Sulla piazza di Campidoglio . . . 
•vi e un frammento imperfetto di marmo che e un Hone soJ>ra un cavallo . . . 
giudicato maraviglioso da Michelangelo.'''' Cf. Michaelis, p. 7; Montagnani, II. 
124 ; Richetti, 1. 153 ; Helbig, I. n. 541. 

a Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI.. vol. 104, p. 17 ; A. Bertolotti, Artisti Lombardi, 
II. 309. This Bescap6 was a great restorer of the antiquities of the Capitol. He 
restored, among others, the statue of Marforio in 1594. He died in September, 
1599 ; he had been "governor " of the corporation of marble-carvers in 1596. {Archiv. 
dell' Universitd dei M armor ari^ vol. VI. , fol. 6, 20.) In July, 1599, ne * s spoken of 
as an "appraiser of intaglios." {Ibid.} He did not finish his work. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VII., vol. 89, pp. 104, 108. Sittings of the 8th of 
November and of the 16th of December, 1757. 

4 See Helbig, I. No. 541, and Burckhardt, Le Cicerone, French translation, 1st 
part, p. 162, M. This group is admirably wrought. However, the stone has suffered 
much from the corrosion of the weather. Vacca is mistaken in claiming that it was 
discovered under the pontificate of Paul III. See Michaelis, p. 6. 

5 See the chapters that treat of the eighteenth century and the coronations of 
Perfettiand Corilla. 



POETICAL CORONATIONS 83 

which were held to have been celebrated in the ancient 
Capitol 1 added to the honour of being made the recipient of 
the symbolic laurel. In the eyes of Petrarch and his contem- 
poraries, no poet could feel sure of immortality until he had 
received this consecration, just as no king of the Romans 
became emperor, before he had been solemnly crowned in 
Rome. 

This was why Petrarch accepted with undisguised satisfaction 
the offer the Senators made that he should be crowned in the 
Capitol. On the same day that he received their missive, viz., 
the 30th of August, 1340, another letter reached him, with a 
similar invitation, from the University of Paris, while he was in 
his solitude at Vaucluse, engrossed with the composition of his 
poem on Africa. Petrarch did not hesitate to give the preference 
to Rome, albeit the offer of the Paris University appeared to 
him, as he said, an exceedingly flattering one ; for the honour 
of being crowned in the Capitol was in his eyes one that 
transcended all others. 

He set off in February, 1341, and first directed his steps to 
Naples, not being willing to take the laurel, until he should have 
been proclaimed worthy of it ; and the King, Robert, whose 
Court was a literary centre, and who himself enjoyed great 
reputation as a writer, seemed to him most qualified to bear 
witness to his merit. The trial was a mere formality ; and 
Petrarch obtained the diploma which was the object of his 
ambition. The good King Robert would have liked to crown 
the poet with his own hand ; and he reminded him that, if Rome 
possessed the Capitol, Naples held the ashes of Virgil ; but 
Petrarch made a point of being crowned in the Capitol ; so he 
left, accompanied by two knights that the King gave him to 
defend him, and one of whom was assassinated on the way. 
The King presented him with his own royal mantle for him to 
wear on the day of the coronation ; and he made his entry into 
the city on Good Friday, the 6th of April, 1341. 2 

1 It is certain that, in antiquity, poetical games were celebrated every five years 
in the Capitol, and that poets were crowned there : but it is not certain that these 
ceremonies had any character of solemnity. An inscription found at Gua^to in 
the Abbruzzo region informs us that, in tie year 106, the poet L. Valerius Pudens, 
aged thirteen, was crowned in the Capitol. (Tiraboschi, II. 89. Cf. Suetonius, 
Nero, XIII.) This practice was discontinued on the fall of the Roman empire ; 
certain Italian cities resumed it in the Middle Ages. At Padua, the historian-poet 
Albertino Mussato and Bonnatino were crowned ; and at Prato, Convenevole, who 
was Petrarch's master. During his banishment, Dante thought of the day when he 
should receive the laurel in the church of S. Giovanni at Florence. (Paradiso, 
XXV. v. . 9, and I. v. 25.) The crown was sometimes a cap, or a mitre, as the 
passage in Dante indicates. (De Sade, Me7jzoirs of the Life of Petrarchan French), 
1764, t. II., appendix 7 ; Gregorovius, III. 339.) 

2 He asserts that he met Laura for the first time on Good Friday (Sonnet III. of 
the Sonnets during the Life of Laura). 

G 2 



84 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Two days later, on Easter Sunday, the ceremony took place. 1 
Twelve young men, clad in red, being sons either of noblemen 
or notable citizens, were at the head of the procession. In the 
course of the ceremony, they recited a number of verses com- 
posed by Petrarch in honour of the Roman people. Behind 
them came six Roman nobles, clad in green, a Savelli, a Conti, 
an Orsini, a Paparese, a Montanari, an Annibaldi; each carried a 
crown of flowers of different colours. They walked in front of the 
Senator Orso, Count of Anguillara, 2 who, surrounded by a large 
crowd, bore the crown of laurel. The procession then proceeded 
to the hall where solemn audiences were held, known as the hall 
of the Assectamentum. Petrarch, who had previously retired into 
another room, then made his entry, while the trumpets and fifes 
sounded, and he advanced covered with the royal mantle of 
King Robert. Three times he cried : " Long live the people ! " 
" Long live the Senators ! " " God preserve them in liberty ! " 
Afterwards, he made a speech, the text of which, though lost 
for a long time, was ultimately recovered. 3 Its argument was 
based on these two lines from the Georgics (III. v. 291) — 

Sed me P amass i desert a per ardua dulcis 
Raptat amor . . . 

When he had ended, the poet bent his knee before the Senator, 
who was seated on the Chair of the Assectamentum, and who 
said, as he took the crown from his own head to place it on 
Petrarch's : "This crown is the reward of genius." 4 Petrarch 
proceeded to recite a sonnet in honour of the ancient Romans ; 

"!■ The only account of it is in Monaldesco, Murat., R. Italic. Script., XII. 540. 
Cf. ibid., III 2 . 843. Petrarch makes frequent allusions to this ceremony, but does 
not describe it. In Monaldesco's account, there are manifest inaccuracies, but the 
substance of it seems to be true. 

2 It is somewhat difficult to know who was the other Senator at this date, and 
what rdle he played (at the time there were always two Senators), since the texts are 
contradictory. Doubtless, it must have been Stefano Colonna, an old friend of 
Petrarch's. Petrarch allows this to be gathered from a letter to Barbato Sulmonese, 
which is in his complete works, Basle edition, 1581, t. III. 4. However, the diploma 
conferred on him, which is in Vitale, Storia diplom. dei Senatori di Roi7ta, I. 259, 
designates, as also the letter mentioned above, the other Senator under the name of 
Giordano Orsini. See also De Sade, who has contented himself with copying the 
various texts without display of any critical acumen. 

3 Scritti inediti di Francesco Petrarca publicati ed illustrati da Attilio Hortis, 
Trieste, 1874, p. 311. 

4 The Senator declared Petrarch to be Poet Laureate in these words : " Magnum 
poetam et historicuin declaramus, praeclaro magisterii nomine insignimus,' et in 
signum specialiter poesis, nos Ursus comes et senator praefatus pro nobis et collega 
nostro coronam lauream nostris manibus eius capiti impressimus. " De Sade, t. 
III. voucher XIX. gives the text of the patent granted the poet by the Senators. 
In it he is said to have received the right to wear the crown of myrtle and the 
"poet's costume." As a matter of fact, poets possessed a peculiar costume. Dante 
was buried in habito di poeta says Villani, Bk. IX. cap. 133. 



ALLEGORICAL REPRESENTATIONS 85 

and all those present cried : " Long live the Capitol and the 
poet ! " 1 

The ceremony continued with a procession to St. Peter's, 
where the poet laid his crown on the tomb of the Apostles, and 
the fete concluded with a banquet. 2 Later in his life, Petrarch 
feigned to regret having allowed himself to be crowned : " The 
laurels with which my forehead was then girt," he said, " were 
too green ; if I had been of riper age or spirit, I should not 
have sought them." 3 In reality, he remained very proud of this 
distinction all his life, since it was largely responsible for his 
glory. 4 

All the Italian poets were ambitious of the same privilege. 
The hope of being crowned in the Capitol consoled Tasso during 
his last moments. If he died too soon for his desire to be 
realised, the Chevalier Perfetti, two centuries after, furnished an 
honourable pretext, as will be seen, for renewing the tradition 
for the benefit of those who were amused by puerile evocations 
of Rome's past grandeur. 

Allegorical Representations Painted on the Walls 
of the Capitol. 

In the Middle Ages, it was a widely-spread custom in Italy to 
draw or paint on buildings allegorical subjects for the benefit of 
the masses. The first picture of the kind painted on the 
Capitol was executed by order of the tribune Rienzo, when he 
raised the Roman people against the opression of the barons. He 
chose the outer wall on the side of the Market, in order that it 
might be in full view. The composition of this design is 
interesting. It represented an immense sea whose waves were 
dashing against each other in fury. A dismasted ship was 
about to sink ; on the deck appeared a woman in mourning, 
with her clothes in disorder and her hair hanging down over her 
shoulders ; she was beating her breast and praying to Heaven 
with fervour. Above the one vessel, there were four others, 
mastless and sailless, and half engulfed in the billows ; on each 
of them lay a swooning woman ; they were Carthage, Troy, 

1 In one of the apocryphal narratives of this solemnity, it is related that a woman, 
wishing to testify her enthusiasm, had prepared a bowl of perfume which she 
intended to pour over Petrarch's head ; but her emotion on seeing him was so great 
that she made a mistake and poured over him a corrosive liquid. Petrarch, who 
was bowing at the moment, lost all his hair. (De Sade, appendix 5.) Petrarch 
owns that he went grey early, but he does not mention that he was bald. 

- Muratori, R. Italic. Script., III 2 . 843, Ex Diario Gentilis Dcljini. 

3 De Sade, II. 5. 

4 " Pai~z>a resfortasse dixerit quispicim sed profecto novitate conspicua et populi 
Romani plausu et iucunditate percelebris" (Fam. IV. Ep. VIII. dated from 
Pisa on the 30th of May, 1361.) 



86 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Jerusalem, and Babylon. On one side could be read these 
words : " These cities, once powerful, perished through the 
iniquity of their inhabitants." On a bandrol placed above the 
women was written : " O Rome, thou wast the fear of all the 
universe ; and now thou art going to succumb in thy turn. 5 ' By 
the side of the ship representing Rome, and towards the left, 
were two islands ; on one of them was a woman symbolising 
Italy ; she was in tears, and cried : " Thou, O Rome, hadst, 
subjugated the whole earth; me alone thou treatedst as a sister." 
On the other island could be seen four women, Justice, Prudence, 
Courage, and Temperance ; they were kneeling down and hiding 
their faces in their hands, and said : " Rome, thou possessedst 
all the virtues : at present, thou art tossed about by the winds.", 
On the right of the picture, standing on an islet, was a woman 
clad in white, in an attitude of prayer, with her hands held up to 
Heaven ; this was Christian Faith. " O my highest Father,'"' 
she said, " my guide and my Lord, if Rome should perish, what 
would be my fate ! " At the top, could be seen four rows of 
winged animals blowing through horns on the billows, as if to 
maintain and increase the tempest's rage. The first row was 
composed of lions, bears, and wolves ; they symbolised the 
great baronial families of the Orsini and the Savelli ; in the 
second row were dogs, sw r ine, and he-goats, representing the 
barons' bad advisers ; then came sheep, dragons, and foxes, 
images of judges, notaries, and other magistrates ; last of all, in 
the hindmost row, appeared hares, cats, apes, she-goats ; these 
were the band of brigands, assassins, thieves, and adulterers. 1 

Often the images so painted were ignominious and intended 
as a chastisement. Then, the person to be ridiculed or 
punished was represented head downwards. Thus it was that 
the tribune had his enemy, the prefect of Vico, painted. Dis- 
honest dealers were sometimes condemned to see themselves 
exposed in this way. Nor did even the highest personages 
escape a like outrageous treatment. The most famous instance 
was that of Baron Cesarini, in 1534. He had attacked with 
his sword Magalotti, the governor of Rome, just as the latter 
was leaving the prisons of the Capitol after a visit, and had 
cut off his wrist, because in the preceding year, at Bologna, he had 
been ordered by Magalotti not to show himself in arms, according 
to the pledge given, in 151 1, by the Roman barons. 2 The agree- 
ment ran that those who infringed it should be painted head 
downwards on the facade of the Capitol, the same as traitors and 

1 Vita de Cola de Rienzi da Tommaso Fortifiocca, Bracciano, 1624, p. 6. A little 
later, Rienzo had painted, on the wall of the church of S. Angelo in Pescheria, a 
picture more significant still. Cf. Gregorovius, III. 351, 365, note 49. 

2 Ratti, Famiglia Sforza, II. 283. The peace document was signed on the 27th 
of August, 151 1, in the Capitol, with much solemnity, and a medal was struck in 
commemoration, with the legend ; Pax Romaua, 



FESTIVITIES HELD IN THE CAPITOL 87 

assassins, in order to perpetuate the souvenir of their crime. 
This chastisement was visited on Cesarini, in spite of his rank. 
He was depicted near the cross-bar window that was on the neigh- 
bouring tower of S. Maria Aracoeli, head downwards, with his 
sword and cape, but without hat or doublet. Not until several 
months afterwards did the Pope, Clement VII., who was on the 
point of dying, allow the image to be effaced. 1 At times, also, 
the misdeeds of criminals were depicted ; as, for instance, in 
1 5 18, when a priest's crime was thus stigmatised. 2 

Festivities held in the Capitol in the 
Fourteenth Century. 

The first festivity held in the Capitol of which any record 
has been kept, took place in the year 1326. The Senator, 
Giacomo Savelli, who was vicar to King Robert, had just been 
expelled by Stefano Colonna and other Roman barons. They 
ordered the patarine bell to be rung, and assembled a great 
throng about them ; and the people, in their joy, made knights 
of Stefano Colonna and Napoleone Orsini, who were forthwith 
bathed in rose-water and consecrated, by the twenty-eight 
buonuomini, in the Aracoeli church. Afterwards, there were 
rejoicings ; platforms were erected on the Square, the trumpets 
sounded and nobles splintered lances. 

All round the lists might be seem a countless number of 
banners and gonfalons. 3 In the following year, the Emperor 
Louis of Bavaria gave a banquet in the Senatorial palace, in 
honour of his coronation ; and, as the night was far advanced 
when it ended, he and the Empress slept in the Capitol ; nor 
was it until the morrow that he went and established his 
quarters in the Lateran. 4 In 1347, the tribune Cola di Rienzo 
celebrated there the advent of the " happy state." 

Nothing is less certain than the reception said to have been 
accorded in the Capitol to Amadeus of Savoy, — " the green 
Count" — on his return from the war in the East, in 1367. 5 

1 Moroni, Diz. di Erud., XXXII. 41 ; Lanciani, Bull. Arch. Com., 1901, p. 253 ; 
Cancellieri, Mem. ist. delle sagre teste, p. 78 ; Ughelli, Ital. Sacra, I. 782, and III. 
652. 

2 Rev. Dns Archiepiscopus Crayensis habuit Dttc. X pro degradatione per 
ipsum facta in personam presbiteri Desiderii Lotheringii. Johannes Simon de 
Verona pictor habuit julios XXIV pro picturis per eum factis in quadratis 
duodecim de excessibus et criminibus dicti Desiderii. {Archiv. di Stato, Taxae 
Maleficiorum, Busta I., vol. 3, p. 75.) 

3 P. Cas ; miro, Memorie di S. Maria in Araceli, p. 638 ; Gregorovius, III. 267. 

4 Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XIII. 638. 

■5 The only historian that speaks of it is Predari, Storia di Casa Savoja, 1869, I- 
196. The other historians, L. Cibrario, Storia delta Monarchia di Savoja, 1844, 
III. 203; Guichenon, Storia di Casa Savoja, I. 418; the Polls tor ia di Ferrara; 
Muratori, XXIV. 848, which relate the entry into Rome and the stay there of 
Amadeus, make no mention of this fact which is nevertheless held in Rome to be 
certain 



THE CAPITOL IN THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY 



Transformation of the Senatorial Palace. 






In the Act of reconciliation signed between Pope Innocent VII. 
and the Roman people, on the 27th of October, 1404, it was 
stipulated, among other conditions, that the palace of the 
Capitol should be restored " to its ancient state," and should 
become a seat of justice. Item concessit dicto populo Romano 
et voluit quod Capitolium prefate Urbis reducatur etreduci debeat 
ad formam palatii et loci communis jiuiicii. It is probable that 
the Romans had made use, against Pope Innocent VII., of the 
defences which Boniface IX., his predecessor, had given to the 
Senatorial palace. It was doubtless for this reason that the 
Pope demanded they should be demolished. 1 

However, it is not known what work was carried out in conse- 
quence ; the reign of Innocent VII. was short (1404- 1408), and 
the Papacy, both then and after, had more pressing pre- 
occupations than the transformation of the Capitoline palace. 

In 1413, the window overlooking the Tarpeian Rock, being 
that from which the Senator was bound to witness executions, 
was surrounded with a marble case on which were engraven the 
armorial bearings of Wenceslaus, King of Naples, who was then 
all-powerful in Rome, and who was represented by the Senator 
Nicolas di Thiano. 2 

But few data are to hand regarding the work executed in the 

1 Theiner, Codex diplom. S. Sedis, III. 131. The King, Ladislaus, had come to 
the help of the Pope and had enabled him, as not long before Boniface IX., to quell 
the revolt of his subjects. Infessura, ed. O. Tommasini, p. 10. 

2 De mandato Dili Nicolai de Thiano tunc tempore Senatoris Urbis per 
Dominum regent Venceslaum fecit fieri tabernaczrium de niarmore cum arma sua 
sculpta in dictn tabernaculo in feuestram palatii Capitolii ubi dictus Dils Senator 
stat ad videndtim quando fiunt justitiae ut moris est. Muratori, R. Italic Script., 
XXIV., 1040, Diarium Rom-xnum. The reference is to Niccolo de' Diano, or 
Thiano, or Trano, Vitale, p. 381 ; Olivieri, I. 255. 



THE SENATORIAL PALACE 89 

pontificate of Martin V. (141 7-143 1), who is reckoned among 
the sovereign pontiffs that contributed most to the embellish- 
ment of the Capitol. 1 His armorial bearings have been found 
engraven on the tower nearest to the Aracoeli church, and on 
the facade ; it is, therefore, probable that he restored the tower 
and decorated the facade. A document dated in 1427 records 
some buttress work carried out, as it would seem, in that year, 
and most likely done in connection with the repairing of the 
tower that bears his name. 2 

Under the pontificate of Eugenius IV., which was troubled for 
ten years by a rebellion of the Romans, the palace was no more 
than kept in its usual state. A certain sum, how much is not 
indicated, was reimbursed, on the 13th of March 1430, to the 
Senator Francesco Ferretti of Ancona for the " reparatione 
palatii CapitoliiP 3 

Consequently, the palace was in very bad condition. Flavio 
Biondo, the author of Roma Instanrata, a work composed in 
1447, 4 writes : " Pudet pigetque a Capitolio incipientum eius 
deformitatem referre . . . Nile vero praeter latericid domii a 
Bo?iifacio IX minis sufteraedificatam, qualem mediocris olivi 
fastidisset romanus cives, usibus senatoris et cansidicoru deputata, 
praeter Arae Coeli fratru beati Francis ci ecclesid in Feretrii Jovis 
teniplifundamentis extract a, nihil habet is Capitoli?tns Tarpeiusve 
mo?is tantis olim aedificiis exornatus? 5 Bernardo Ruccellai, who 
visited Rome in 1450, says in speaking of the palace of the 

1 Albertini, Opusculum de Mirabilibus Urbis, 15 15, f. 86 : "Due. diciocto et bo I. 
octo pacammo a Antonio dellc Saucto fallename, maestro dello palazzo per spese 
per esso facte per reparationi de comandamento del presente senato7-e come appare 
la polissa de di XXIII di dece?nbre." Archiv. Seg. Vat., Intr. et Ex. Cam., 1423- 
1424, fol. 177, December, 1423. Other small payments made in 1426 and 1427. Ibid., 
quoted by Miintz, Les Antiquites, p. 152. 

. 2 Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in French), I. 16 : " Solvi facialis 
Nob iii viro Nuccio de Giaffo, civi roman., pro expensis per ipsznji factis in 
muris et furcis (M. Miintz thinks this word means buttresses), apud Capitolium 
noviter erectis et factis, f. 16 de bou. 50 pro quolibet floreno et bon. romanos 15 et 
denarios 3" (tS July, 1427). Archiv. di Stato, ?»land. Carrier., 1426-1430, fol. 45. 
Montagnani Mirabili, p. 33. According to him, it was Martin V. who introduced 
order into the confused structures that stood behind the Senatorial palace, but the 
sketch supplied by Heemskerck proves that this work is posterior. 

3 Archiv. di Stato, Mand. Carrier., 1426-1430, fol. 130. Ferretti ceased to be a 
Senator on the 9th of March, 1430. Olivieri, p. 261. 

4 Pastor, History of the Popes (in French), I. 310 ; Gregorovius, IV. 203. 
Burckhardt, Civilisation (in French), I. 222, gives a somewhat earlier date. 

5 Blondi Flavii Forlivensis de Roma Triumph. Libri decern, Basle, 1531 ; Roma 
Instaurata (which is a sequel), Bk. I., § 73. Allowance must be made for the fact 
that the author was a humanist, and spoke in comparison with what the Capitol had 
been in the time of its splendour ; in the § 66, apropos of the Capitoline hill, Blondi 
quotes Virgil and characterises it as " silvestribus horrida dumis" However, 
N. Muff els, who came to R me in 1452 to be present at the coronation of 
Frederick III., speaks in almost the same terms of the Capitol ; he sa}*s that dead 
animals were thrown there (N. Muffels, Beschreibung der Stadt Rojh, Tubingen, 
r8 7 6, p. 52). 



90 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Capitol : "Dove al prese?ite abita il se?iatore grande parte 
cascato" 1 

The result was that the Capitoline magistrates, instead of 
sitting in the Capitol, as was prescribed them by the statutes of 
the City, held their audiences and convoked the people either in 
the cloister or under the portico of the Aracoeli church. This 
custom, indeed, was fairly ancient, but it had never been so 
frequently resorted to as in the fifteenth century. In 1267, 
when Guido de Montefeltro, vicar of the Senator, Henry of 
Castile, decided the Romans to ally themselves with the 
communes of Pisa and Sienna and to the other Ghibelline cities of 
Tuscany, he convoked the people's assembly in the Aracoeli 
church. 2 The statutes of 1363 prescribe that certain formalities 
should be observed in this place ; it is true that the case referred 
to is a peculiar one, being an attestation rather than a judiciary 
inquiry. 3 Moreover, the church was then considered to form 
part of the palace ; and a heavier penalty was inflicted on those 
guilty of any excess in it, just as if the misdeed had been 
committed in the precincts of the palace. 4 

The confirmations of the statutes granted between 1402 and 
1 42 1 all bear the mention : "Actum in ecclesia S. Marie de Araceli" 
or " Actum i?i secundo renclaustro Ecclesiae S. Marie de Araceli " 
or "Actum in renclaustro Ecclesiae S. Marie de Araceli" or 
"Actum i?i loco nostre solite reside?7tie de Araceli" or "Actum 
apud Aramceli" or "Actum in ambitu secundi reclaustri 
Araceli." 5 Another series of Acts, the Gabelle sales, give still 
more precise indications as to the place where the popular 
magistrates used to hold their sittings. The Sale Act of the 
Gabelle of the soldanus is dated: "Actum Rome a7ite porta?n 
Araceli caput schalis dicte ecclesie" ; the sale of the musk Ga- 
belle is dated : "Actum Rome in domibus residentie dictorwn 
• • • Consefvatorum site in Araceli" ; the Gabelle of the cloth 
sales is dated : "Actum Romei?i domibus residentie dominorum 
Conservatorum site infra claustrum conve?itus S. Marie de 
Aracoeli" 6 

1 Archiv. delta R. Soc. Romano, di Storia Patria, IV., fasc. IV., p. 577. 

a ". . . more romano generate et speciale consilium Coi7tunis Romae factum 
fuit in Ecclesia S. Marie de Capitolio per vocem preconu7ii et sonum campane de 
hominibus ipsorum Consiliariorum more solito congregatorum , convocatis etiam 
ad dictum consilium Consulibus Mercatorum et Capitibus artium Urbis 
Romae ..." Delgiudice, Cod. diplom. di Carlo I e I/, t. II. 95. 

3 " Mulier accusata vel inquisita . . . aut vadat pcrsonaliter ad Eccl. 
S. Mariae de Araceli ad respondendum ..." Bk. II. , art. 72. 

4 Bk. II. , art. 111. Article 151, which forbids stones and darts to be cast 
against the painted windows of churches, makes particular mention of the Aracoeli 
church. » 

5 Stevenson, loc. cit., pp. 58, 60, 61, 65, 66, 71, 72, 74, 198, 211, 221 ; Gatti, loc. cit. x 

pp. 121, T22. 

6 Archiv. di Stato, Reg, Cam. Capit., 1421-1425, fol. 4, 13, 34, 



THE SENATORIAL PALACE 91 

From 142 1, these mentions are met with less often. However, 
on the 4th of September, 1428, a testimonial letter handed by 
the Conservators to the notary De Cambris bears on it : 
" Datum Rome apud Aramceli locum nostre residentie. r ' 1 

In order finally to put a stop to this abusive practice, Pope 
Martin V., in the twelfth year of his pontificate, promulgated a 
Bull forbidding, thenceforth, Senators, Conservators, and other 
magistrates to hold sittings either in the cloister or in the 
church of S. Maria Aracoeli. 2 On the other hand, the prior of 
the caporioni was required to render justice in the palace of the 
Capitol, by one of the articles of the treaty concluded between 
the people and Pope Eugenius IV., 3 just as, by the statutes of 
the City, the Senator was bound to reside in it. 4 However, 
there were further infractions of the interdiction throughout the 
whole of the century. 5 

Pope Nicholas V., who did much for Rome, took measures 
besides to make the palace of the Capitol more suitable. Im- 
provements were begun in the year 145 1, the jubilee having 
apparently supplied the Apostolic Chamber and the City 
Chamber with the necessary funds. " hi nello anno 145 1 papa 
Nicola se deo alio edifitio et ad accoticiare Roma . . . et fece 
acconciare Campiticoglio^ says Infessura. 6 The work done by 
the Pope was very considerable. He strengthened and raised 
higher, if lie did not entirely build, the tower on the side of 
the Arch of Septimus Severus, the tower afterwards taking 
his name. His armorial bearings appear near the top, as 
also those of Pope Innocent VIII. and Cardinal Cibo, his 
nephew, a little lower down. He restored the two towers bear- 
ing the name of Boniface IX., which flanked the east side of 
the palace ; and, last of all, he raised the height of that part of 

1 Cod. Vat. 5994, fol. 72. 2 P. Casimiro, Memorie, p. 705. 

3 E. Rodoranachi, Communal Institutions of Rome (in French), p. 153. 

4 Statutes of 1363, Bk. III., art. I. Subsequently the Conservators were com- 
pelled to reside likewise. Statutes of 1580, Bk. III., art. IV. 

5 Casimiro quotes, p. 707, an Act of 1468 which begins: " Constitutae dictae 
partes . . . presenti a domini senatoris sedentis in quodam lapide marmoreo 
situm iuxta portam ecclesiae aracoeli versus Capitolium " ; another Act of 1476 is 
worded: " Actum in regione campitelli et in reclaustro fratrum minorum 
ecclesiae sanctae Mariae de aracoeli ex opposito capellae capitularis dictae 
ecclesiae"; last of all, an Act of 1504: '" Constitutus personaliter coram . . . 
magnifici viri . . . Urbis senatoris illustris sedente pro tribunali in quodam 
sedili marmoreo sito in ecclesia S. Mariae de Aracoeli iuxta ostium respiciens 
palatium Capitolii." An Act, dated the 14th of April, 1496, is thus expressed : 

" Coram nobili et sapioiti viro d. Johannis Francisci de Mauchis de Tuderto juris 
utriusque doctori iudice palatino et collatei'ali Ctcrie Capitolii sedente pro tribunali 
in quodam pilo marmoreo sito apud portam ecclesiae Sancte Marie de Aracoeli 
respicientem palatium Capitolii." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Prot. 122, car. 227. In 
1455, a decision recognising a girl's virtue, "pro honestate dicte puelle" had been 
given, " in quodani podio lapideo sito ante Ecclesiam Sancte Marie Aracoeli" 
(19 December). Arcliiv. di Stato, Prot. 706, Atti Laurenthis di Festis, p. 1. 
Last of all, the statutes of 1519-1523 reproduce the article of the statutes of 1363, 
which have been quoted (Bk. II., art. 72). 6 Ed, Tommasini, p. 49. 



92 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the palace which is situated on the side towards the Forum. 
The building work was carried out by Pietro de Varese, 1 2 under 
the superintendence of Nello di Bartolommeo, delegated by 
the Pope. Artists of renown, such as the painter Bartolommeo 
di Tommaso of Foligno, the sculptor Paolo di Mariano of 
Sezze, otherwise called Paolo Romano, worked at the decora- 
tion of the palace. Bartolommeo painted the frieze of the 
large hall in which the Senator held his audiences. Paolo di 
Mariano carved marble casings for the windows of the first 
story in front, to the left of the loggia. A marble staircase was 
built nella volta nova, perhaps on the side towards the S. 
Maria Aracoeli church. 3 A Venetian worker in marble, 
Francesco, made a marble door, under the image of the 
Madonna that is in the palace vestibule. Another worker in 
marble, Baldassare, carved four marble escutcheons with the 
Pope's coat of arms, and, besides, built two marble chimney- 
pieces. 4 Appropriating the language of Augustus, Nicholas V. 
might have said that he had found the Capitol of brick and 
had left it of marble. But the expense was great. During the 
years 145 1 and 1452 there was one payment after another, 
making a total appreciably more than four thousand ducats, 
besides the tower, which alone cost more than a thousand. 

The work went on in the following pontificates. Pius II. 
ordered a hundred and forty florins to be paid to the carpenter 
Cencio Jacobi Vannucii, a Roman citizen, on January the 16th, 
1459, and forty-nine florins to Galasso of Bologna, on the 17th of 
July, for work done in the Guard-room. 5 At the same time, the 
Pope furnished them with two thousand cross-bow shafts. In the 
same year, Antonio of Pontianis delivered an order for the pay- 
ment of four florins and twelve bolognini for work of a similar 
kind. 6 Under Paul II., the expenses for keeping things in order 

1 "A m° Pietro de Varese nifiote di m° Beltramo adi detto (31 December, 1452), 
due c. 1000 di oro de camera . . . per parte de la tore fa dietro a Champituoglio a 
lato dove si vende il sale a minuto. . . . Per resto e saldo dachordo de la tore a 
fatta a Champituoglio a lato ala porta dove si vende il sale in sul chanto da lato 
dietro. ..." (9 March, 1453). Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in 
French), I. 150. Cf. Montagnani, 77 Museo Capitolino, I. 34. The words : "Dove 
si vende il sale" are explained in the chapter Tabularium. 

V Bertolotti, Artisti Lombardi, I. 45. 

3 " A Jacovo de Petrasanta marmoraro per doi p07-ticelle fece nella sala grande 
di Campituoglio, et per li gradi della scala di marmo che sono nella volta nova, et 
certi altri lavori, con accordo, Due. 34." Arch, di Stato, Reg. Cam. Capit., fol. 
83, 1st January, 1452. 

4 Miintz, The Aris at ihe Court of the Popes (in French), I. 150. 

5 Miintz, ibid., 294-295. 

6 Archiv. diSlato, M. Camer., 1460-1462, fol. 20. In 1461, under the pontificate 
of Pius II. , were de-troyed some remains of ancient monuments that were still on 
the Capitol : " A m° petro marmoraro con suo garzone sono per opere XX lavorare 
a cauar travertini a cdpitolio. . . . (30 May). — A Ambrosio da Milano a cauar 
petre a cdpitolio . . . (24 June). — A Maganello et suoi compagni a cavar petre a 
cdpitolio. . . . (December).— Silvestro per carrecte XXXVj de petra tirata co 



PALACE OF THE CONSERVATORS 93 

amounted to 448 florins, 68 bol., paid to Egidio of Toccho 
and his companions, et sociis, by order of the Pope. The 
order for payment mentions that the payments were for buttress- 
arches, pavements, doors, windows, floors, a wooden entrance- 
staircase, repairs to the roof. 1 It must, therefore, have been an 
important restoration ; but, apparently, the general aspect of the 
palace was not much altered. In 1470, there was an expenditure 
of 32 florins, 7 1 bol. for doing up, as it would seem, the Guard- 
room. 2 

Sixtus IV. had the door made in the Tabiilarium, as will be 
again mentioned further on. To this Pope was due the com- 
mencement of the Capitoline museums, which will be spoken of 
in the chapter devoted to them. During the years from 1489 to 
1492, the work was continued, and a good deal was done, 3 
especially to the Tabularinm. Some minor improvements were 
made in 1499. 4 

Palace of the Conservators. 

The transformation of the Capitol was parallel with the modi- 
fications in the organisation of the Municipality. 

While the Senatorial magistracy, created in times gone by in 
order to hold in check the sovereign pontiffs, became more and 
more dependent on the Holy See, and assumed an exclusively 
judiciary character, the authority of the bannerets, franderesi\then 
of the Conservators, who were the direct representatives of the 
people, rapidly increased. 5 

They had, therefore, their palace, which was already building, 
at the beginning of the fifteenth century, beside the Senatorial 
palace. Although it does not figure on the ancient plans of the 
Capitol, it none the less existed in the year 1408 and was, at 
that date, the usual abode of the bannerets as appears from the 
document below. 6 

suoi bufall . . . da captioUo." Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi di Roma, Rome, 
1902, I. 67. Other excavations of the same kind took place in 1520, as will be 
related. 

1 Archiv. di Stato, M. Carrier., 1468-1469, fol. 200. 

2 Ibid., 1470-147 1, fol. 21. " Ft. 32, b. 71. Magrd Dominico de Florentiafabro 
lignaminis per eum expensis infaciendas certas doinus in palatio Capitolii pro usu 
stipendiato7'um. " 

3 Miintz, Antiquities of the City of Rome (in French), p. 153. 

4 From the 16th of Jan., B. 35 cont. a cerii fachini che portaro, certi preti di 
porfido ad palazo, cojne apare per mandato delli conservatori. D.O., b. 35. Id., 
baj. 20. From the 21st of Jan., id., baj. 10. 26th Jan., id., baj. 20. Reg. Cam. 
Capit., 1497-1502, fol. 90 V. 

5 This progressive substitution has been explained and studied in detail in 
Chapters VII. and VIII. of our work on the CommunalTnstitutions of Rome. 

6 " Banderenses intraverunt in palatio Apostolico etjw'averunt in manibus card. 
S. Angeli esse fideles S. Matris Ecclesie, et receperunt banderas consuetas tempore 



94 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 




In another document, dated in the year 14 10, mention is also 
made of the bannerets' residence ; but it is called a house. It 
must, in fact, have been a very modest dwelling, which explains 
why it does not figure in the plan of Sienna. A drawing of 
Heemskerck's shows it as it was a century later. 

In 1429, 1 some joinery or carpentry was done in it ; and 
some repairs to it were made in 1433. 2 But it was Pope 
Nicholas V. who, while' repairing the Senator's palace, gave 
also to the abode of the Conservators the appearance of a palace : 
" Edifico lo palazzo delli Cojtsetvatori" 7, says Infessura. In 
reality, the restoration he carried out was a veritable recon- 
struction. Then it was that were built the semicircular arcades, 
some vestiges of which are still visible in the interior of the 

palace courtyard 4 and 
which figure on the 
plans of Heemskerck 
and Kock. 

In 1473, a cistern was 
added to the palace of 
the Conservators, which 
cost twenty-five florins. 5 
On the 2 1st of July, 
another payment of 
thirty florins was made 
for work " in perfectione 
fabricae reparationis cisternae palatii eorwn residentiae? 

Sixtus IV. having given to the Conservators the colossal head 
of an emperor which was at the Lateran, they, being much 
embarrassed to find a suitable position for it, had it placed 
between two of the pillars that formed the peristyle of their 

antique . . . Qtiatuor eorum Consiliarii cu7n baculis in manu iverunt versus 
Capitolium, et ibi in Capitolio fuerunt recepti dicti Banderensii ab omnibus 
Capitibus Regionum cum banderiis, ut moris est, cum viagno gaudio. Item post 
receptio7iem iverunt ad eorum palatium, ubi pritno eorum residentia utebatur et 
ibi fecerunt residentiam" Muratori, R. Italic. Script. , XXIV. 989, Diarium 
Romanum, 

1 Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in French), I. 16. " Provido viro 
Meo dello (or del to) Archiprete carpentario de regione Trivii 60 Jiorenos auri de 
camera pro cert is labor eriis per eum fact is in domo magnificorum dominorum con- 
servatorum dicte Urbis" (31 December, 1429). Cf. Montagnani, II Museo Capitolino, 
I. 33. In another document quoted by Miintz, ibid., this Meus bears the title of 
Magister Palatii Capitolii. 

2 Ibid., p. $0 : "... Ad mandatum do7iiinorum Conservatoru77i al77te Urbis 
solvatis . . . pro aedificatio7ie seu reparatione do77ioru77i residentie ipso7-u77t C071- 
servatoru77iflor. au. de ca77i. C." 

3 Ed. Tommasini, p. 49, line 26. 4 See p. 191, Fig. 50. 

5 ' Magnificis ah7iae L/7-bis conservatoribus, ft. auri de camera XXV expofien. 
per ipsos do77iinos co7ise-rvato7-es in fabrica77i citernae palatii eorum residential" 
Miintz, II. 160. This cistern was the object of numerous repairs ; and disappeared 
in the sixteenth century, at the time of the transformation of the inner courtyard, 
and the bringing of the water to the fountain of the large palace. An inscription had 
been placed there. Forcella, I. n. 38. 



FIG. 15. — THE ROMAN SHE-WOLF, 
FIGURED ON AN ANCIENT MEDAL. 



96 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

palace. It was still there in 1565, as the plan of Lafreri proves, 
which was drawn out at this time. This colossal head, indeed, 
is shown on the earlier plans of Heemskerck and Kock. 1 At 
that epoch it was thought to be the head of Nero or Commodus. 
Since then, it has been attributed to Domitian. Helbig is of 
opinion that it represents the younger Nero. 2 It came from the 
temple of Peace built by Vespasian and burnt in the reign of 
Commodus. 3 It now adorns the courtyard of the palace, 
together with the Emperor's hand, which was given at the same 
date. Pope Sixtus IV. also offered to the Conservators the 
bronze She-Wolf, which subsequently became the most vener- 
ated object in the Capitoline collections, as much by reason of 
the souvenirs it called forth as by its intrinsic merit. It was, 
first of all, placed above the entrance door. The Pope went to 
the expense of having it set up. 4 

1 Every representation of the palace of the Conservators shows it in this place. 
An inscription mentioned by De Rossi, Insc. Christ., I. 396, and published in 
C.I.L., no. 1275, confirms this indication. It reads: " In angulo parietis aedium 
conservatorum in exteriorifiorticu contra occiput capitis colossi aenei." Cf. De 
Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, Til 2 . 397; Burckhardt, The Cicerone 
(in French), Antique Art, p. 60 ; Manuzio, quoted by Michaelis, La Collezione 
Capitolina, p. 14. 

a Helbig, I. 538. The reference is perhaps to a fragment of the gigantic statue of 
Domitian, celebrated by Statius, Silvae, I. 
Equus Max. Domitia. 
Vae super imposito moles gemi7iata colosso 
Stat latium complexa forum : coelone fteractum 
Fluxit opus : sictclis an confirmata caminis 
Effigies, lassum Steropem Brontemque reliquit ? 

3 Cf. J. Burckhardt, The Cicerone (in French), I. 152 ; Montagnani, II. 128. The 
two feet and the arm which are in the courtyard of the Museum with the bust, have 
the same origin. 

4 ' ' Solvi faciatis . . . Conservator ibus Fl. C. exponendos in fabrica loci in quo 
statuenda est apud eo7'um palatium luppa enea quae hactenus erat apud s. J oh. 
Lateranensem, et in certis aliis ornamentis predicti eorum palatii juxta 
ordinationem SS™i D. N. pape." Order to pay dated the 13th of November, 1471. 
Archiv. di Stato, Mand. Camer., an. 1471-1473, fol. 51. This She-Wolf is an old 
piece of work and seems to date back to the fifth century before our era. Perhaps, 
in order to make the She-Wolf the Mother of the Romans, the two twins figuring in 
this group were added about this period. Such is the opinion of Burckhardt, The 
Cicerone, I. 163, and of Janitschek, Repertor.filr Kunstzvissenschaft,Y . 263, no. 12. 
F. Bonfigli, Roina veduta in otto giorni, Rome, 1854, P- 4 X > attributes the twins to 
Giacomo della Porta. However, antique medals most often represent the She-Wolf 
with the Twin>, and turning her head to look at them. Moreover, the text of Cicero, 
quoted further on, shows th;it the She-Wolf of the Capitol suckled the Twins. Of 
the two medals reproduced here, one is very ancient, since it was struck in the time 
when the Romans established themselves in Campania ; the second is comparatively 
modern, and dates back only to the end of the Empire. On both, Romulus and 
Remus are represented. The She-Wolf's neck is bent, in harmony with the form of 
the medal, and to avoid the straight line of the bronze which, in fact, is rather hard. 
Sometimes the She- Wolf is alone, in a threatening attitude, for instance on the 
denarii of Publius Latrienus (Helbig, 618 ; cf. Babelon, Coins of the Republic of 
Rome (in French), Paris, 1885). Some think that the She-Wolf of the Capitol is the 
same that was in existence in antiquity and was struck by lightning, in the year 
65 B.C., at the time of Catiline's conspiracy, from which circumstance Cicero 
derived great advantage. " Complures in Capitolio res de coelo esse percussas. . . . 
Tactus est etiam Me qui hanc Urbem condidit, Romuhts quern inattratmn in 



REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CAPITOL 07 



Pictorial Representations of the Capitol in the 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. 

The representation of the Capitol contained in the Cod. Vat. 
i960, which has already been spoken of, is the only one which 
the thirteenth century has bequeathed us. For the following- 
periods, several exist. The first is that figuring on the seal of 
Louis of Bavaria, 1 and bearing the date of the year 1328. 
The Senatorial palace is flanked with two towers, and the 





FIG. 17. — THE ROMAN SHE-WOLF, FIGURED ON AN ANCIENT 
MEDAL. 

staircase is shown on which the magistrates stood when they 
assembled the people, and which served as a place of execution. 

Capitolio ftarvum atque lactantem uberibus lupi^iis inhiantem fuisse meministis." 
Cicero, in his Catiline Orations, III., cap. VIII. — Cf. Dion Cassius, Bk. XXXVII., 
cap. 25 ; Sallust, Catilina, XXX. Cf. Nibby, I. 81, and Montagnani, p. 136, who 
asserts that the She-Wolf was struck by lightning on the death of Caesar, according 
to Titus Livy S The right hind leg of the She- Wolf bears, indeed, evident traces of 
fire, but since it has been repaired many times and some parts welded at a very high 
temperature, as the nature of the work shows, it may be that these traces are merely 
the result of one of such operations, so that it is most difficult to decide if Nibby and 
De Brosses were right to be enthusiastic about the singular accident which brought 
back the ancient symbol of the Roman fatherland to its first resting-place. About 
the tenth century the She-Wolf was in the Lateran. in front of the seat of the 
" indices palatini" A design reproduced by Tommasini in his edition of Infessura, 
pi. III., which design belongs to the middle of the fifteenth century, represents a 
scene of torture that took place before the She- Wolf in 1438. " Messer Nicola fo 
appeso nelV ormo delta piazza di Santo Joanni, ad Capocciola et Garofalo li foro 
mozze le mano ritte, et poi foro arsi nella ditta piazza, e le ditte vtani furo 
chiavellate accanto alia lopa de met alio, in quello muro, come delle p?-editte cose si 
vede la 7nemoria pente come s'entra la ecclesia de Santo Janni ad mano ritta su ad 
alto." Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 38. Cf. Paolo dello Mastro, Diar. : " Et le li 
degano esser tagliate la mano ritta e chiavellarle in quello muro dove sta in mczo la 
lopa." Cf. Paolo Petroni, who, on this occasion, speaks of the " torre appresso all' 
olmo di sopra ad una lopa di 7uetallo che sta nella detta torre." See p. 199 and 
following ; Rohault de Fleury, The Lateran in the Middle Ages (in French), pp. 
493, 496, 498 ; E. Miintz, Revue archeologique, 1876, p. 261 ; Stevenson, Scoperte 
di antichi edifizi ad Laterano, Rome, 1877, p. 48. * See p. 76, note 4. 

H 



9& 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 




IW^fr 



The design being very summary, the lion utilised as an 
instrument of punishment does not appear. 

In the Dittamondo of Fazio degli Uberti, which is in the 
possession of the French National Library, under the catalogue 
heading "fonds italien 81," and which was written in 1447 by 
Andrea Morena de Lodi, the Capitol is not indicated. 1 On the 
contrary, in the view of Rome painted by Taddeo di Bartolo on 
one of the walls of the chapel of the communal palace of Sienna, 
the Capitol is clearly visible with its two towers and staircase. 
But the painter, wishing to show the arcade that was below, 
has represented by an awkward perspective this staircase as 
being joined to the facade. The gibbet, no doubt a very high 
one, which had been erected on Mount Caprino, seems to 

tower above the palace. 2 The 
view of Rome contained in the 
Hour Book of the Due de 
Berry and at present in the 
Conde Museum, is, so to speak, 
a replica of this plan, at least 
as far as the palace of the 
Capitol is concerned. 3 

The painter Taddeo, who 
was born in 1363, died in 1422 ; 
but the representation of Rome 
which he painted at Sienna 
gives its appearance at a 
much earlier date ; for he 
must have worked, as Steven- 
son thinks, from materials 
dating back at least to the preceding century. 

In Ptolemy's " Cosmographia" which exists in the French 
National Library, under the catalogue heading "fonds latin 
4802," and in the Roman Vatican, Cod. Urbinate 277, 
both of them apparently written in 1472, there is a pano- 
ramic view of Rome. 4 The Capitol is represented with 
the church of S. Maria Aracoeli beside it. It is flanked with 
two towers, and the gibbet stands behind ; in front of the church 
appears the staircase built in 1348. What would suggest that 
this design of the Capitol is earlier than the period in which the 
manuscript was composed, and that it is perhaps the copy of an 

1 Gio. Batta. de Rossi, Piante iconografche di Roma, 1879. 

2 This plan has been more particularly studied by Stevenson, in the Bullettino 
della Comm. Archeologica Com. di Roma, 1881, p. 74. Didron drew attention to it, 
in 1865, in the Annates archeologiques, p. 1, Monograph on the Chapel of the 
Palace of the Republic of Sienna (in French). 

3 Miintz has treated of this representation of Rome in the Antiquities of the City 
of Rome (in French), 1886, p. 6 and following. 4 De Rossi, ibid. 



FIG. l8. — FRAGMENT OF THE 
REDI PLAN OF ROME, CON- 
TAINED IN THE COD. LAUR. 
RED. 77. 



REPRESENTATIONS OE THE CAPITOL 



99 



older document, is that the abode of the Conservators which 
already existed, as has been said, does not appear in it. The 
panoramic view painted by Benozzo Gozzoli, on a fresco in the 
church of St. Augustine at San Gemignano, dates back certainly to 




FIG. 19. — FRAGMENT OF THE PLAN OF ROME CONTAINED IN THE 
MS. OF THE FRENCH NAT. LIB., FONDS LATIN 4802. 



1465. 1 The Capitol is shown in it such as it had become in con- 
sequence of the improvements carried out by the Popes of the 
fifteenth century. A bell-tower of exaggerated height rises above 
it ; and, on either side, are the towers built by Nicholas V. 

^This fresco represents St. Augustine leaving Rome. Miintz has dealt with the 
design of Rome in the Bttlletin of the Society of French Antiquarians, 1880, and 
in the Antiquities of the City of Rome (both in French). 



LOfC. 



H 2 



ioo THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The Redi plan, which is in the " Laurentiana " Library at 
Florence, and which was made by Alessandro Strozzi, is not 
quite so old. It was designed in 1474, and shows the Capitol 
with its two battlemented towers, its arched porch, its windows 
few in number, a veritable fortress, capable of being used by the 
people against pontifical authority. Last of all, the large view 
of Rome, painted on canvas, which is at present in the Mantua 
museum, gives only a symbolic representation of the Capitoline 
palaces. The palace of the Conservators is shown, and that of 
the Senator also ; but the latter is divided into two parts, with a 
big tower and very low subsidiary buildings, an aspect which it 
certainly never presented. This plan, which is closely related 
to the one contained in the chronicle printed at Nuremberg in 
1493, tne text of which was written by Schedel and the engravings 
of which were drawn by Michael Wolgemut and Pleydenwulff, 
dates back probably to the year 1490, as Rossi and Miintz have 
proved. 

Then come the representations of Marten van Heemskerck 
and Hieronymus Cock or Kock, made in the sixteenth century, 
which will be spoken of again. 



The Tabularium. 






From the end of the first half of the Middle Ages, the 
Tabularium was used as a salt repository. The basement 
part of the structure had perhaps been so employed even 
in antiquity. 1 

It is possible that this was the place where the tribune Cola 
di Rienzo had the salt stored, when he made its sale a monopoly 
of the commune of Rome. 2 What is certain is that, at the 
beginning of the fifteenth century, the Tabularium was the 
regular salt repository. This appears from the text of the treaty 
concluded, on the 27th of October, 1494, between the sovereign 
pontiff and the Romans, by which the latter acquired all the 
salt stored there, with the exception of a thousand rubbia, these 
belonging to the Holy See. 3 Moreover, Poggio, writing in the 
time of Martin V., affirms of the Tabularium that it was 
" Publici nunc salis receptaculum? 4 The level of the ground 

1 Gregorovius, III. 400, note 9. In 1360 Innocent VI. handed over the 
Tabularium. to the Canons of the Church of SS. Sergio e Bacco, near the Capitol, 
which has since besn destroyed. " Quoddam casalenum quod dicitur Cameliana 
(Cancellaria : see as to this appellation what is said further on) ipsius ecclesie 
positum retro dictam ecclesiam cut ab uno latere est palatium Capitolti . . . ab 
alio est via pub lie a que dicitur Faba Tosta." Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi, p. 39. 
Cf. Jordan, Topogr., II. 458. Cf. p. 22. 

2 Vita de Cola de Rienzi, cap. VI. 

3 Theiner, Codex diplom. S. Sedis, III. 134. 4 De Varietate Fortunae, p. 8. 



THE TABULARIUM 101 

rose on the side of the Forum to the height of the first story 
windows, as is seen in Sadler's reproduction. One of its 
apertures was enlarged to make the door which still exists, but 
is to-day much above the ground level, in consequence of 
successive clearings since then. 

Pope Nicholas V. gave orders for certain repairs and appro- 
priations to be carried out, and they were entrusted to the 
master-mason, Giacomo da Pietra Santa. He it was who carved 
the Pope's coat of arms let into the side wall of the building, 
that facing towards the church of S. Maria Aracoeli. Pietro di 
Giovanni da Varese, also, was employed in the work. As pre- 
viously stated, he built the buttress tower placed against the 
Tabularium near the Arch of Septimus Severus, which at present 
bears the name of the tower of Nicholas V. 1 It was these 
alterations which caused some writers, and among them Guat- 
tani, 2 to say that this Pope had disfigured the Capitol, in order 
to establish in it a salt repository. 

This portion of the Capitoline palace was the object of con- 
tinual restorations, no doubt necessitated by the corrosive action 
of the salt, traces of which are still visible to-day on the walls 
of the lower rooms, 3 and also by the great importance that the 
repository naturally acquired, in proportion as the City developed. 
Now, this development was peculiarly rapid in the course of the 
fifteenth century. In 1466, Paul II. put certain small alterations 
into the hands of Ascenzo and Giovanni da Mantova, w r ho were 
masons ; and, in 1468, someone named Firmo da Caravagio was 
similarly commissioned. 4 Sixtus IV. also had repairs effected in 
the Tabularium by Lorenzo da Pietra Santa, whose name occurs 
so often in orders to pay of this period. The repairs were 
continued by Innocent VIII. 5 

1 A Jacovo di Crist of oro da Pietrasanta per una porta di marmo per esso 
lavorata e per le arme che son poste nella salara, Due, XIV, bol. 16 (ist January, 
1452). (Reg. Cam. Capitolina, fol. 82.) A Maestro Pietro di Giovanni da Varese 
nipote di Maestro Beltrajno, Due. C per parte dei lavori che afatti alia Salara di 
Campidoglio (March, 1453). {Archivio cii Stato, Spese di Palazzo, fol. 93.) 

2 Roma descritta ed illustrata, Rome, 1805, I. too. 

3 In the seventeenth century, as will be seen, all this part of the Tabularium had 
to be underpinned. 

4 PI. XXX magistro Johanni de Mantua et sotiis pro parte solutionis eormn 
mercedis ratione fabrice quam faciunt in voltis seu architectis in Dohana salis ad 
grossum in palatio Capitolii (6 Sept., 1466). Flor. L magro. Firmo de Caravagio 
muratori pro parte solutionis certe fabrice qua7n ipse ex ordinatione Camere fecit 
infaciendo certa architecta in Salaria Capitolii (5 Dec, 1468). (Mand. Camerali, 
1464-1473, fol. 31 ; 1466-1468, fol. 60.) 

5 Flor. centum de Camera La2trentio de Petra Sand a exponendos per ipsum in 
fabrica S alar iae Apostolic ae in Capitolio (April, 1477). Flor. L de Camera Magistro 

Laurentio de Petra S and a pro fabrica salariae Capitolii de quibus debebit reddere 
computum (June, 1477). Flor. XIV Magro. Basso de Florentia lapicida pro 
factum quinque lapiduiu cum armis Ssmi. D. IV. et Commissarii ponendortcm 
stcper Salariam Capitolii. Itcjn solvatis Due. II pro ponendis in loco debito et 
ordinato hujusmodi lapidibus Alfonzo de Anania notario didi Salis qui habebat 



102 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

It was under the pontificate of Pope Sixtus IV., in 1477, that 
the doorway built of blocks of travertine was completed, which 
gave access to the salt repository and which to-day opens above 
the level of the ground, in the narrow street skirting the Capitol 
on its eastern side (Via dell' Arco di Settimo Severo). 1 This 
doorway, with its semicircular arch, surmounted by a straight 
architrave, has received the name of Pope Sixtus IV., whose 
armorial bearings, the oak of the Delia Rovere, are visible 
above in the middle ; those of the Roman people are on the 
left ; those of Cardinal d'Estouteville, the Camerlingo, are on 
the right. Below, in the frieze of the door, are three escut- 
cheons of smaller size ; those at the ends, representing a swine, 
belong to the celebrated family of Porcari, a member of which, 
Bernardo Porcio di Trejo, was caporione about the time when 
the doorway was built. 2 As regards the middle escutcheon, its 
attribution is difficult. It would seem that the arms figuring on 
it are those of Lorenzo Roverella, Bishop of Ferrara, for similar 
bearings existed on his tomb. 3 

Higher up, above the armorial bearings of Sixtus IV., are 
represented, superposed, the arms of Cardinal Cibo and those 
of Pope Innocent VIII. 

The care taken by the chief personages in those days thus to 
commemorate their name near this doorway shows that it must 
have been a great thoroughfare and that great importance was 
attached to its construction. 

In 1477, some work was done needful for keeping the Salara 
in a good state of repair, which cost one hundred and fifty 
florins. 4 Innocent VIII. had his coat of arms put up there, as 

curcwi faciendi poni dictos lapides in dictis locis ordinatis et de Mis satisfaciat 
muratori qui dictos lapides ponat (19 Aug., 1489). (Archiv. Scg. Vat., Int. et 
exitus, vol. 1476-1477, fol. 175 and 238 ; vol. 1489-1492, fol. 67.) 

1 Its raised level is explained in the following way. Owing to the market being 
held for several centuries on the Square of the Capitol, the Intermontiwn had risen 
considerably, as also the slopes turned towards the Capitol. At the time of the 
reconstruction work advised by Michael Angelo, the ground was cleared, the heap of 
rubbish was thrown into the Forum, and the ancient level reappeared, much lower 
than the artificial surface. See Huelsen, pp. 9, 13, and Otto Richter, Topographie der 
Stadt Rom, p. 98. 2 Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 83. 

3 The reproduction of these armorial bearings is found in Litta, Famiglie celebri. 
Appendix to the genealogy of this family. Those engraven on the tomb have been 
destroyed. This bishop may have been Governor of the Capitol. On the death of 
Sixtus IV. (1484), Fustus Baldinus, Bishop of Ceuta, was designated to fill the_ post 
(Burchard, I. 10). Lorenzo Roverella had been appointed Governor of Perugia by 
Sixtus IV. in 1474 (Moroni, XXIV. 179). The Pope entrusted him, maybe, with the 
guarding of the Capitol in 1478, on the death of the Senator Cesi. It will be remarked, 
indeed, that while the arms of the prior of the Caporioni figure on the lintel of the 
door, those of the Senator are lacking. 

4 De mandato . . . fl. centum de Camera Laurentio de Petrasancta exponendos 
per iftsum in fabrica salariae apostolicae in Capitolio (21 April, 1477). De mandato 
. . . for. qtcinquaginta de Camera magist? r o Laiirentio de Petrasancta pro fabrica 
salariae (7 June, 1477). (Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes, II. 169) (in 
French). Muffel speaks of this repository, p. 52. 



THE TABULARIUM 103 

well as on the Nicholas V. tower, which allowed it to be supposed 
that the work already done had been executed by his order, and 
therefore under his pontificate (1489). 1 There was some 




FIG. 20. — DOORWAY OF S1XTUS IV. 



restoring work carried out at this date, the cost of which 
amounted to forty florins. 2 

1 Magistro Basso lapicidae (sic) de Florentia fl. 14 de K. X. pro factura quinque 
laftidum cum avmis Snii. D. N. et Commissarii ponendornvi su-fira salariam 
Capitolii (19 Aug., 1489). (Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes ■, Innocent 
VIII. . . . Paris, 1898, p. 57, note.) 

2 Alfonso Salviati de Anania fiabitalori Urbis rforenos quadraginta de K. X. 



104 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The Tabularium continued in use as a salt repository until 
1623, at which date Urban VIII. created another one near the 
arch of Lentulus. 1 As a matter of fact, the salt's action 
threatened to completely eat away the walls of the building, 
which would have involved the ruin of the whole palace. 2 A 
street in the vicinity has kept the name of Via Salara Vecchia. 

Some texts of the various records give the price of the salt 
bought by the repository. 3 

It was the fedeli of the Capitol who kept the salt and were 
required to verify the quantities brought in and given out. 4 
This duty was also performed by the monks of the Aracoeli 
monastery ; the keeper received as renumeration a grey cloth 
tunic valued at six florins. 5 

The salt was transported by mules from the port named 
Marmorata to the Capitol. 6 

pro floreno et b. 15 pro opere per eum facto in salaro Capitolii dicte Urbis (17 Mar., 
1489). Fl. XL A Ifonso Salviati de A naniapro opere pet cum facto in salaro Capitolii 
urbis (23 June, 1489). Alfonso Salviati de Anania habitatori Urbis Jiorenos 
nonaginta octo de K. X. pro floreno et b. 15 pro opere per eum facto in salaro 
Capitolii dicte urbis (same date.) Magistro Basso lapicide de Florentia forenos 
quatuordecim de K. X. pro floreno pro factura quinque lapidum. . . . (See above.) 
Item salvatis ducatos duos similes pro ponendis in loco debito et ordinato huiusmodi 
lapidibus Alfonso de Anania notario dicti salis qui kabeat curam faciendi poni 
dictos lapides in dictis locis ordinatis et de Mis satisfaciat muratori qui dictos 
lapides ponat (19 Aug., 1489). (Mand. Carrier., 1489-1492, quoted by Miintz, 
The Antiquities of the City of Rome (in French), p. 153.) 

1 Arcus Lcntuli et Crispini ; it is situated to the north of the Trigeinina gate 
between the x\ventine and the Tiber. Homo, Lexicon of Topography (in French). 

2 Salis officinam adiacentem quae superne ruinam in posterum minabatur 
longius transferri curavit. (Forcella, Iscr., I. n. 116.) 

3 Among others : Solvatis Maximo de Maximis de Urbe Flor. an. de Cam. 
CCCLXXI et bon. XLII pro valore L VII modiorum salis et unius sexti 
mensure e Plumbini habitorum ab ipso Maximo ad rationem VI ducat, cum 
dimidio pro quolibet modio. Quod salis fuit positus in Capitolio in salarie grosse 
ut apparet manu Notarii salis (11 Mar., 1460). (Mand. Camer., an. 1460, 
fol. 7.) 

4 Solvi facialis Antonio de Muscianis et Raynaldo Bartholomei de Viturchiano 
Fidelibus Conserz>atorum Urbi, recipientes pro se et omnibus aliis Fidelibus 
dictorum conservatorum ad descriptionem et adnotationem salis quod exit et 
exitur de salariis seu dohanis salis ad grossum Urbis, Fl. au. de Cam. VI et b. 
XLII pro eorum omni salario et mercede usque et per totum mensem decembrem 
proximi preteriti ratione dicte descritionis et adnotationis (31 Jan., 1466). 
(Mand. Camer., an. 1464-X466, fol. 150.) 

5 Solvi facialis guardiano et fratribus de Aracoeli Flor. au. de Cam VI. ad 
emendum pannum grisium pro una tunica et tunicella eius fratris qui isto anno 
tenuit et tenet claves Salarie Cam. Apos. secundum quod superioribus annis feri 
consuevit (15 Dec, 1471). (Mand. Cam., an. 1470-1471, fol. 71.) 

6 Flor. au. de Camera C provido viro Jacobo Rentii Statii de Urbe per eum 
exponendos in emendo XXV asinos oportunos ad portandum salem de portu 
Marmorate ad dohanam Capitolii Urbis (10 Sept., 1466). (Mand. Cam., an. 
1460-14^8, fol. 37.) On the previous 7th of September, a hundred florins had been 
paid to Antonio Galassi and to Nardo di Bartolommeo for the transport of salt. 
Then, no doubt, it was thought more economical for the Treasury to buy beasts of 
burden to transport the salt. The port called Marmorata formed part of the Ripa 
grande ; it was given this name because, at one time, the marble was unloaded 
there, which was employed in building and which came from the East or from 
Carrara. 



THE TABULARIUM 



105 



During the Middle Ages the Tabularium bore the name of 
Camellaria, on account of a singular error which the copyists 
made in reading m instead of nc {Camellaria for Cancellaria, 
which recalled its ancient employment). This error lasted 
a long time. The word camellaria is found as early as the 




FIG. 21. — DOOR OF THE TABULARIUM. 



Bull of Anacletus ; and again in an Act dating as late as 
the end of the fifteenth century, quidam hortus qui vocatur 
Camellaria ; l for the sort of enclosure at the foot of the Tabu- 
larium had also received this name. 2 



1 R. Lanciani, Bullettino delta Com. Archeol. Comunale di Roma, 1901, p. 250. 

2 The field had been in existence a long time ; the Bull of Anacletus mentions it : 
'. . . usque in hortum qui est sub Camellaria* ..." 



io6 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Prisons of the Capitol. 



Perhaps, even in the thirteenth century, prisons existed in 
the Capitol ; but, if so, they were anything but safe. When, . 
after usurping", in 1267, the Senatorial dignity, Henry, son of 
Ferdinand, King of Castile, ordered the arrest of Napoleone 
and Matteo Rosso Orsini, Angelo Malabranca, Giovanni 
Savelli, and other nobles, on the charge of conspiring against 
him, he did not dare to keep them in the Capitol, but quickly 
sent them to the stronghold of Monticelli. 1 

On the other hand, it is certain that at the time when the 
first statutes of Rome were promulgated, that is, in the second 
half of the fourteenth century, the Capitol possessed a jail 
situated in that part of the Tabular him which overlooks the 
Via del Campidoglio, near the large square gate already spoken 
of, and, consequently, in the vicinity of Mount Caprino, where 
criminals were executed. 2 

This jail depended, not on the Senator, whose powers had 
been curtailed, but on the people represented by the three 
Conservators. 3 The keepers, who were appointed by them and 
had to be exclusively Roman citizens, were paid by their 
prisoners an entrance fee, which was fixed at four deniers a 
month, if the latter were Romans, and at six deniers, if they 
were foreigners. But the keepers were forbidden to claim any- 
thing when the prisoners were released. The jailers remained 
in office for six months only, and were required to deposit a 
guarantee of a thousand florins, collectively no doubt, since the 
amount is a high one. If a prisoner escaped, they had to fetch 
him back at their own expense. They were prohibited from 
fettering anyone, unless he were a highway robber, a homicide, 
a forger or some other malefactor, under penalty of death. 4 
The statutes stipulated that women should be confined in a 
separate prison; 5 yet their jailers had to be men. 6 This 

1 Litta, Fain. Savelli, t. II., and E. Martene, Thes. Nov. Anecdot., II. 543. Yet 
the Senator Carushomo had been shut up there for along time in 1194. Gregorovius, 
II. 606, note 66. 

a Cancellieri, Le due Campane, p. 19. 

3 Bk. III., art. CVI. " Statuimus et ordinamus quod custodia cancellarie 
palatii Capitolii in qua detinentur et detineri debent captivi nullatenus ad 
dominum senatorem pertinet nee de ejus custodia et custodibus se modo aliquo 
intromictat. Sed custodia et provisio custodie et deputatio custodum ipsius 
cancellarie totaliter spectet . . . et pertineat ad dominos conservatores camere Urbis 
presentes etfuturos." Mention is made of the prisons existing in the lower story of 
the palace, in the Vita de Cola de Rienzi, Bracciano, 1624, p. 262. The tribune 
let himself down in them with sheets from the Senatorial hall, where he was, in 
order to escape. 4 Same article as above. 

5 Et pro mulieribus Jiat locus separatus in Capitolio de cancellaria prefata in 
qua dicte mulieres dctineanUcr de fructu et pecunia camere. (Bk. II., art. 
LXXII.) 6 Hid. 



THE TARPEIAN MOUNT 107 

prescription was not put into practice until later ; : and 
women prisoners continued to be confined for debt, or even 
when condemned to death, in the convents of the City. When 
Pope Innocent VII., by the Brief of the 15th of March, 1406, 
ordered the Senator Giovanni Francesco de Panciatici to release 
a- certain number of prisoners detained for debt and other 
misdemeanours, he took care to mention that the women were 
confined in convents. 2 



The Tarpeian Mount or Mount Caprino. 

In the Middle Ages nothing survived of what had constituted 
the splendour of the Tarpeian Mount of antiquity. Here and 
there only were a few scattered shafts of columns lying, a few 
sides of walls that had fallen, a few T vestiges of foundations, 3 
while the other end of the Capitoline Mount was becoming 
the centre of municipal life, and a church, that of S. Maria 
Aracoeli, adorned it. 4 Furthermore, this portion of the hill was 
soon chosen as the public execution place. In a chronicle of 
the thirteenth century, relating the legend of Pope Filigato (996), 
we read : " . . . idcirco usque adhuc nullus papa venire vult in 
montem tarpeium ad arcem Urbis Romae scilicet in Capitolium 
itbi iste Johannes tormenta sustinuit. Ibi itaqite semper Jerebantur 
seiitentiae mortis co?itra sceleratos et contra adversarios 
Romanorum." 5 

To this spot the name platea or spianata was given, in transla- 
tion of the word area y area capitolina (as opposed to arx)^ which 
had formerly designated it. This explains why the place 
of execution was often so called. Fra Montreale, who was con- 
demned to death by Rienzo, was led u a lo piano" to be executed 
there. His head was cut off near the ruins of a tower. 

1 See p. 163, note 3. Yet there were exceptions ; see p. t6o. 

2 Theiner, Cod. diplom. S. Sedis, III. 150. Debts chiefly were meant that were 
contracted to the Pontifical Treasury. 

3 Poggio, who came to Rome in the pontificate of Boniface IX. (1389-1404), 
speaks of the Tarpeian Mount in similar terms in his work : De Fortunae Varie- 
tate Urbis Romae, p. 131 : ''''Cum . . . Capitolium collem condescetidissenucs . . . 
consedimus hi ipsis Tarpee arcis ruinis, pone ingens porte cujusdam marmoreum 
limen, plurimasque passim confr act as cohannas, unde magna ex parte prospecttcs 

Urbis patet." 

4 Several churches were built on the approaches to the Tarpeian Mount, but none 
on the summit. 

5 As regards the legend of Filigato, see Stevenson's article in the Bidl. Archeol. 
Com., an. IX., 1881, p. 95. The quotation in it, Pertz, Mon. germ. Hist., XX. 186, 
245, which is reproduced by Lanciani, Bull. Arch. Com., an. XXIX. 1901, p. 251, is 
erroneous : t. XXIV. 186, should be read. For the real history of this Pope, 
see Gregorovius, II. 102, note 21. 

6 La Vita de Cola de Rienzi, p. 251, ed. Zefirino, p. 156. Mention is made of 
this place in the statutes of 1363, Bk. II. cap. V.: ". . . In platea Sancte Marie de 



108 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The spot appointed for executions is fixed with accuracy by 
a curious document. In 1385, Giordanello degli Ilperini or 
Alberini, a nobleman of the Monti quarter, was cast into the 
prisons of the Capitol. 1 Fearing the rage of the lords bannerets, 
" furor presentium dominorum banderentium" and not wishing 
to die without a will, he drew one up, forthwith, in the great hall 
where the assemblies of the people were held. Among other 
dispositions, he required his heirs to spend two florins in having 
a figure painted "ad imaginem gloriosissime virginis Marie" 
in front of the gibbet and place of execution, " ante f ureas ct 
locum iustitieP And, in fact, the figure was painted beneath 
the portico of a granary belonging to the Maffei family, in a spot 
indicated by Infessura thus : " in una cost a di muro appresso 
santa Maria delle grazie di sotto a Campidoglio a piedi lo 
monte." 2 Thenceforward, criminals had a sight that consoled 
them in their last moments. 

The custom of hanging people in this place -was continued in 
the fifteenth century. In the Diario di A?itonio Petri (1407) is 
the expression : " In loco iustitiae, videlicet in piano Capitolii" 3 
The gallows is clearly visible in the Sienna plan. Somewhat 
later, documentary allusions become more frequent. An Act 
dated in 1457 bears on it: "in loco qui dicitur Monte A rpelio 
{Tarpeio) sive lo pia?io inter hos fines . . . ab alio via per qua m 
ititr ad f ureas P In another document, dated in 1473, and 
referring to the settling of a boundary, the following passage 
occurs : " ab alio tenet locus iustitiae qui dicitur lo piano" 
This same document informs us that, behind the palace of the 
Conservators, lay a garden belonging to them, part of which 
exists to-day, while the other has been taken into the Caffarelli 
palace, which, at present, is the German embassy. 4 

Executions were witnessed by the Senator. It was a duty 
incumbent on his office. He took up his position at the window 
in the palace situated in the southern tower. This window, as 

araceli a sancto Sergio et Baccho et a ftede viefave toste supra versus capitolium et 
in piano cajbitolii." So, Bk. II. cap. LXVIII. §3: ". . . versus planum et 
capitolium." 

1 Pietro Pericoli, U Hospedale di S. Maria della Consolazione di Roma, Imola, 

l8 79- 

2 Stefano Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 72. From the 26th of June, 1470, this 
picture began to work miracles. On account of them, a church was built which 
received the name of S. Maria della Consolazione. Cf. Armellini, Le Chiese di 
Roma, p. 536, who gives a different version of the legend. 

3 Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 982. 

4 Article of the Comm. R. Lanciani, Lo Monte Tarpeio, nel secolo XVI, in the 
Bullettino della Commissione Archeol. Com. di Roma, 1901, p. 245. About the 
year 1538, a great part of the piano became the property of the Caffarelli or Caraffelli 
family, as already stated on page 112. With regard to the donation, see Huelsen, 
Bilder aus der GcscJiichtc des Kapitols, p. 280. This portion of Mount Caprino was 
in great part planted with olives. While excavating on this side in 1896, the founda- 
tions of what was supposed to be the gallows were found, 



THE TARPEIAN MOUNT 109 

previously said, was ornamented in 141 3 by the Senator Nicola 
of Diano. 1 

Among the celebrated executions which took place on the 
gibbet of Mount Capri no was that of the accomplices of the 
Chevalier Stefano Porcari, who himself was hanged from the 
battlements of St. Angel's castle in 1453. His accomplices were 
nine in number ; and eight of them were hanged together. 2 In 
1490, a man accused of trying to poison Pope Innocent VIII., at 
the instigation of the Sultan of Constantinople, was beaten to 
the ground, on the ordinary execution place, by blows on his 
head with a club ; then he was struck on the chest and stomach 
with an iron-covered fist, after which he was drawn and 
quartered. 3 Hangings were numerous ; in 1507, there were 
seven. 4 The gibbet continued to be used in this spot until 1550, 
when the improvements that were undertaken in the surround- 
ings brought about its suppression. 5 Thenceforward, criminals 
were hanged on the Giudea square, at the entrance to the Ghetto. 

On occasion, use was made, as a prison, of the ruins standing 
on this portion of the hill, perhaps of some pits that will be 
spoken of further. Under the pontificate of Innocent III., the 
Romans confined their prisoners of war there. 

The neighbouring quarters, suffering from the presence of the 
gibbet, remained deserted and neglected. Goats browsed in 
them, which soon caused the hill to receive the name of Mount 
Caprino, a name that it retained for a long time. 7 The locality 
was almost a jungle. Gregory XIII., having remade, in 1582, 
the road that led to it, was justified in having inscribed on a 
stone that still exists in the Via di Monte Tarpeio these words : 
" Hinc ad tarpejam sedem et capitolia diicit. Pcrvia nunc olim 
silvestribus horrida dwnis. . . ." 8 

The rope-makers and hemp-dressers had availed themselves 
of the place being so abandoned, and had established them- 
selves on the Caprino Mount. They were already there when 
the Mirabilia 9 was written, and remained for a long while. It 

1 Page 88. 2 Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 55. 

y Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 255. 

4 Archiv. di Stato, Archiv. di s. Giovanni Decollato, vol. VII. p. 193. 

5 Archiv. di Stato, Archiv. di s. Giovanni Decollato, vols. I. and III. 

6 "Senator ttniversos captivos misit in Canapariam mult is miseriis macerandos.'" 
Muratori, R. Italic. Script., III. 564. Vita Inn. P. Ill ex Stephano Baluzio. 
Cf. Casimiro, Memorie di S. Maria in Aracoeli, p. 681. 

7 See the Acts mentioned further on. 

8 Forcella, Isc, XIII. 87, No. 118. Cf. Lanciani, Lo Monte Tarpeio, in the 
Bullettino delta Com. Arched. Com. di Roma, 1901, p. 254. Cf. p. 89, n. 5. 

9 " In summitate arcis super porticum Crinorumfuit templum Iovis et Monete 
. . . ex alia parte Capitolii supra Cannapar am teiiiphim lunonis" (page 18). It 
is evident that the two temples of Jupiter Capitolinus and Juno Moneta are con- 
fused here. They were so for a long time. The donation of Anacletus likewise 
mentions the trades of the hemp-dressers: " Revolventes se per appendices suas 
super canaparia." Mention is also made of them in a letter written by Innocent III. 



no THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

was the only spot in Rome where they could carry on their 
trade. 1 One family in particular, that of the Surdi, was working 
there in the sixteenth century. 2 But towards the end of this 
century, the corporation claimed the whole of Mount Caprino 
for its members ; and the Communal Council granted the claim 
(July — August, 1587). 3 However, at the end of the following 
century, in 1671, Mount Caprino was still occupied, exclusively, 
by a single manufacturer, who rented the premises necessary for 
his industry from the Archbrotherhood degli Orfani.^ It would 
seem to have been only part of the hill that belonged to the 
Archbrotherhood ; the rest belonged to the Roman people, who 
in 1612 leased on it, to Gio. Battista and Giacomo de Vellis, "a 
house with an underground portion." 5 In 1743, a rope-maker 
applied to the Communal Council for a small piece of ground 
whereon to exercise his trade. This application was granted to 
him, in the sitting of the 9th of July. 

In Mount Caprino there were also siloes. Some of them 
are distinctly visible in Heemskerck's plan, reproduced above 

to the archpriest Romano and the scholars of the church of SS. Sergio e Bacco. 
". . . Unum casalinum in regione S. Theodori in pede Canafiarie" (P. Casimiro, 
Memorie di S. Maria in Araceli, p. 679). A neighbouring church, that of S. 
Maria della Grazie, also bore the name of S. Maria Cannaparia (Armellini, 530). 

1 Their trades are seen on Heemskerck's plan, published by Lanciani, p. 261, 
and reproduced here. 

2 Agreement drawn up, on the 9th of October, 1555, between the brothers Girolamo, 
Mario, and Vincenzo de Surdis, on the occasion of certain repairs to be made in the 
establishment they possessed in common on "cerium terrenum seu locum dicto lo 
tiratore situm in Urbe hi loco dicto Monte Caftririofirofte Capitoliu??i." In 1558, 
Girolamo sold his portion of land to his brother Vincenzo, " cuhtsdam siti seu 
tiratori vulgariter nuncufiati ... in loco dicto Monte Chabrino." This land 
is bounded on one side by the summit of the hill, on the other by the road leading to 
the church of S. Maria della Consolazione. As to the price of the lot, it was fixed 
at twenty-five crowns (Lanciani, art. quoted). In 1564, Vincenzo bought, for the same 
sum, his brother Mario's portion, which seems to have been nearest to the palace 
of the Conservators : " A duobus lateribus vie publice in conspectti Palatii Conserva- 
torum Urbis." 

3 De Monte Capitolino per mercatores lanae petito. Lecto memoriali porrecto 
per mercatores artis lanae petentes eis concedi partem Montis C apitolini pro eorwn 
zisu et semper de Mo de7nittendo ei relasciando arbitrio po. Ro. illoque discusso 
decretum est quod Conservatores et Prior et Dni. Marcellus Niger et Hieronimus 
Alterius audiant petitionejn Universitatis, locum videant et omnia publico Concilio 
refer ant. — Decretum est quod locus predictus eidem Universitati concedatur, 
relinqtiendus et restituendus po. Ro. ad omnem ipsius po. liberam voluntatem et 
requisitionem. (Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 89-94.) 

4 Patent e di concessione a Girolamo Righezzi e Compagni di potere fare uno 
Stenditore di panni a Ponte Rotto cioe Ponte s. Maria verso Trastevere . . . per 
non esscrvi Tiratori abbastanza per stendere panni e coperte, non essendovi in 
Roma che un sol luogo a Monte Caprino dove sieno siinili edifcii spellanti alia ven. 
Arciconfraternita degli Orfani ed affitati ad uno solo (3 July, 167 1). (Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. XI. vol. 22, fol. 123.) 

5 " Domus cum una crypta subterranea in Monte Tarpejo juxta bona, ab uno 
latere Archiospedatis s. Spiritus in Saxia, ante via publica quae tendit ad 
templum B. Mariae Consolationis, ab alio alique ruine aedificiorum antiquorujn." 
The rent to be paid was a pound of white wax at Christmas. (Arch. Stor. Capit., 
Cred. XI. vol. 19, p. 20.) 

*> Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VII. vol. 100, fol. 515. 



THE TARPEIAN MO UNT 1 1 1 

(dating back to about the year 1534), near the road leading 
from the gibbet to the church of Consolation. They are six in 
number. The origin of the siloes is explained by the crypts 
that existed as last vestiges of ancient buildings. In 1433, the 








v -* r *""2?~«~*i 



FIG. 22. — THE TARPEIAN MOUNT AND THE SILOES. HEEMSKERCK's 

DESIGN (according to the Bullettino Archeologico). 



following mention is made in the inventory of a minor's property : 
" Nonnulla ftutea ad conservandum granum sita in Reg. 
Campitelli apud Ecclesiam S. Marie quibus a duobus lateribus 
tenent res dicte ecclesie ..." A little later, in 1489, mention 
is made, in an Act of assignment, of " nonnullis puteis aptis 



H2 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

ad reponenditm granum sitis . . . in loco qui dicitur s. Maria 
del la Consolazione iuxta palatium Capitolii? These pits were 
not all, as the two foregoing texts might give reason to think, 
round the church della Consolazione, in the hollow that separates 
the Capitol from the Palatine ; there were some on the slope of 
the hill. Indeed, we read, in a deed of sale dated the 5th of 
April, 1567, and referring to a crypt "cum quodani cortile et 
muris? that the said crypt is situated " in loco detto li pozzi di 
monte Tarpeio sopra la Consolazione" 1 Siloes were still in 
common employment in the fifteenth century. The hospital of 
S. Giovanni, called Sancta Sanctorum, purchased one, at the 
fairly high price of thirty-three florins, to be used as a corn- 
granary.* However, their importance subsequently diminished. 
In 161 2, the City, which owned part of them, transferred its 
rights to the hospital of S. Maria della Consolazione, after 
estimating that they were not worth a hundred crowns. 3 

In the year 1538 about, a large part of the piano of Mount 
Caprino became the property of the Caraffelli or Caffarelli, 
owing to a donation made by Charles V. to the young Ascanio, 
one of his pages, perhaps to recompense the hospitality shown 
him by the page's family in the palace dei Valle. But it is not 
known by what right the Emperor disposed of a piece of 
ground that must, so it seems, have belonged to the Commune. 4 
In 1576, Prospero Caffarelli sold one lot of this ground to the 
Conservators, in order that they might enlarge their palace ; 
and, shortly afterwards, in 1606, the Conservators, or rather the 
Communal Council, behaved in a similar way to him. 5 



Executions in the Capitoline Palace. 

Whilst hangings took place on the gibbet of Mount Caprino, 
the beheadings were carried out on the Square of the 
Capitol, and even inside the palace. If Fra Montreale was 
beheaded at the foot of the Mount Caprino tower, it was by 
way of compromise, since he was considered as much a 
malefactor and an "enemy of the people" as a prisoner of war. 

1 R. Lanciani, Lo Monte Tarfieio, article quoted. 

2 Archivio di Sancta Sanctorum, called Maremagnum in the Archivio di Stato di 
Roma, 1462, fol. 269, in the margin : Super puteis iuxta Capitolium pro grano. ^ In 
the text : Emptio puteorwu ad reponendum granwii facta afilio quod Nicolai De 
Marganis pro pretio Flor. XXXIII. 

3 De interesse et jure quod habet Po. Ro. super situ et griptis subtus Montem 
Caprinum donando Ecclesiae et Hospita B. Mariae Consolationis. (Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, fol. 42. Sitting of the 11th of November, 1612.) 

4 R. Lanciani, art. quoted, p. 258 ; Cancellieri, II Mercato, p. 10. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 15, and vol. 31. Secret council of the 
30th of October, 1606. 



EXECUTIONS 113 

Usually, executions in the Capitol took place on the great 
staircase, near the lion. It was there that, on the 3rd of March, 
1398, the conspirators were beheaded who had attempted to 
re-establish the power of the bannerets, destroyed by Pope 
Boniface IX. 1 

In the fifteenth century, executions were frequent. In 1405, 
Paolo Maracini, Giovanni Gnafri, and Motta were beheaded in 
the Capitol. In 1406, Antonio Carola was beheaded there also, 
as well as Giovanni Colonna, Jacovo de Nepi, "miles libertatis" 
Ricardo Sanguineis, rebels against Pope Gregory XII. 2 In 
1497, Galleotto de Normanis was " decollates , de mtme, hora 
co ?i suet a, in loco iustitiae Capitolii, tanqiiam pro di 'tor Urbis? 
Sometimes the execution was carried out in the evening : " De 
sero, hora completorii, fnit capta uxor Cole Ca7icellarii de Reg. 
Coliimne ac etiam Paulus de Cancellariis . . . omnes tanqiiam 
proditores Urbis et ducti per mercatum ad Capitolium et ?narti- 
rizatir Before each execution, the condemned person had his 
sentence read to him, in the great hall of the Capitol. The 
bell rang thrice, and, at the third peal, he was put to death. 3 
In certain cases, the bell was not rung ; but this, as previously 
said, was when the execution was considered to be a murder. 4 
Occasionally, the execution was inside the palace. We read 
that Lello Capocci was decapitated " intus in palatio Capitolii 
ad pedem secimde colutnne ubi tenetur ratio."* The Square of 
the Capitol was also used as a place to expose criminals. 
Cardinal Vitelleschi shut up in three wooden cages, which were 
set there for the people to mock at, a triplet of thieves who had 
stolen the precious stones adorning the reliquary wherein were 
kept, a.t the church of St. John Lateran, the heads of St. Peter 
and St. Paul. The thieves were subsequently executed on the 
Square of the Lateran. 

Now and again, hangings took place from the windows or 
arcades of the Capitoline 'loggia. On the 19th of December, 
1458, Bernardo della Rosa was hanged from the window of the 
great staircase. 7 At that time, however, hangings were not 
frequent. Infessura complains of it: "In Capitolio nulla vel 
saltern rara executio corporalis fit, 7iisi quod per curia7ii do7ni7ii 
viceca77ierarii aliqui 7iocte suspe7idimtur et 77ia7ie suspensi 

1 Gregorovius, III. 566; D. Orano, II Sacco di Roma, p. 29. 

2 Liber Pontijicalis, II. 534. 

3 Muratori, R. Italic. Script. XXIV. 977 and following. 4 Page 69. 
5 Muratori, as above, p. 1055. 

K Infessura, as above, p. 36, with an engraving of the time representing the scene. 

7 Nantiporto, Muratori, III 2 . 1097. Infessura, p. 65 : ". . . Lo di tdtimo 
dottobre (1459), foro aftpicati in Camftitoglio ad qttclli archi dello palazzo in nclla 
loia et fo appeso Tifairtio, Bonanno Specchio, et Rienzo, et Cola de Joanni et Cola 
Roscio de Treio.'' 

I 



i H THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

reperiuntur apud turrim Nonae sine nomine et sine causa : ct 
hoe ordine vivitur hodie in Urbe sedente Innocentio octavo''' 
(1489). 1 

The Custody of the Capitol. 

The custody of the Capitol was one of the duties incum- 
bent on the Senators. The statutes of 1363, no doubt repro- 
ducing an anterior obligation, required them to bring with them 
twenty men-at-arms mounted on good horses. 2 They had also 
to maintain a guard of twenty foot-soldiers, who were bound to 
stay in the palace, night and day. 3 As the Senators enjoyed 
office only for half a year, or a year at most, the men of the 
Capitol guard were frequently changed. The inconveniences 
of this system must have been felt at an early period after, 
since, in the century following, there seems to have been, 
besides the special guard, a garrison variable as to the number 
of men composing it, but of a more stable character. It 
numbered thirty men in 1433 ; and they received, from the 
Apostolic Chamber, a pay of three florins a month. 4 The visit 
which the Emperor Sigismund paid to Rome, in that year, was 
perhaps the cause of this measure. It was, however, con- 
tinued ; and twenty-five years later, in 1458, the garrison was 
still maintained and had the same number of men, after having 
temporarily been increased to fifty. A " Constable " was at 
their head ; and the pay of all the body amounted to fifty florins 
a month. 5 

In view of this increase of the garrison, it had been necessary 
to appropriate the accommodation of the Guard-house. A 
payment made in the next year mentions the fact expressly. 6 

1 Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 244. The torre di Nona stood on the banks of the 
Tiber, nearly opposite St. Angel's castle, 

2 Book III. j art. I. These men of the guard must be distinguished from the fedeli, 
who were in the service of the Conservators, and acted more peculiarly as ushers 
and apparitors, although having a military organisation. In 1624, they were 
exonerated even from all military service. (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, 
fol. 288.) . 3 Book III., art. I. 

4 Solvi faciatis Mag r0 militi dno. Cechino de Campello de Spoleto alme Urbis 
Rome Senator! illustri pro stipendio unius mensis Jiniendi die XXV presentis 
pro XXX paghis deptctatis ad custodiam dicti palatii Capitolii ad rationem trium 
floren. de L bol. pro Jioreno pro quolibet paga (21 April, 1433)- Same mention in 
July with this addition : Pro stipendiis XXX pedititm deputatorum ad custodiam 
Capitolii ultra familia in dicto Capitolio solitum teneri pro Senatori. (Mand. 
Cam., an. 1433, fol. 79, 80.) 

5 Solvatis D. Iohanni de Leono alme Urbis Vice-Senatorijl. ait. de cazn. L aa 
distribuendum intra illos XXX pedites cum tmo Comestabili ad cttst. Capitolii 
deputato (13 Aug., 1458). The previous pay amounted to seventy-five florins. 
(Mand. Cam., an. 1457-1458, fol 6, 119.) 

6 . . . Ratione certe fabrice seit acconciamenti facti in palatio Capitolii pro 
stantia alias habitatione pedittwi ad custodiam dicti palatii Capitolii deputatorzim 
(19 Jan., 1459). (Mand. Cam., an. 1458-1460, fol. 68.) 



THE CUSTODY OF THE CAPITOL 



115 



The alterations were carried through all the more quickly, as 
Pope Pius II. had gone away to attend the congress at Mantua 
(1458) ; and the tranquillity of the City seemed to be less 
assured. 1 The garrison of the Capitol was increased to thirty- 




FIG. 23. — THE CAPITOLINE MOUNT ABOUT THE YEAR 1 552. 
ENGRAVING TAKEN FROM LIGORIO's PLAN. 



five men, with an aggregate pay of sixty florins, 2 soon to be 
again augmented and placed under the command of two 

1 Fl. XLI X bol. X Magistro Galasso de Bononia pro fabrica per eum facta 
in palatio Capitolii, videlicet quasdam bertescas et viantioncs pro pedetibus et 
multa alia necessaria ad custodiam dicti Capitolii (July, 1459). (Mand. Cam., an. 
1458-1460, fol. 169.) A little further on, it will be seen that the garrison was 
generally reinforced when the Pope was absent (p. 116, note 5). 2 Ibid., fol. 173. 

I 2 



1 1 6 THE ROMA N CA PITOL 

Constables. 1 In September (1460), the garrison was composed 
of fifty men and a lancer, commanded by Tartaglia di Fuligno ; 
the men received two florins a month ; the lancer, eight. 2 The 
times were troublous ; a certain Tiburzio was fomenting a revolt. 
He was hanged, on the 31st of October, from the arcades of 
the Capitol loggia ; 3 and, tranquillity being restored, the 
palace garrison was reduced to twenty- five men. At the same 
date, the organisation of the troop was modified ; instead of 
depending on the Holy See, through the Senator who was 
commissioned to pay them, the soldiers in it were placed under 
the orders of a Constable directly responsible to the Holy See ; 4 
and from the same date, the Constable remained several years 
in his command. Thus, imperceptibly, in the manner customary 
with the Holy See, the transformation was achieved, and the 
small garrison occupying the Capitol fell completely under its 
control. In the pontificate of Innocent VIII., and during the 
year i486, as the City was disturbed by the quarrels of the 
barons, and irritated by the Pope's bad government, there were 
sixty footmen and ten horsemen in the Capitol, besides thirty 
men under the orders of the Constable, Giovanni da Ferrara, and 
ten men under the orders of Giuliano da Aquilano. The pay 
varied from twenty- five to sixty florins a month. 5 

1 Infrascripti Comestabiles ad custodiam Capitolii deputati '." Ambrosio de Scnis 
cum paghis XXV, Ambrosio de Florentine cum paghis XX. (Mand. Cam., an. 
1460, fol. 6 ; 5 March.) 

2 Mand. Cam., an. 1460, fol. 59. This pay was handed by the Apostolic Chamber 
either to the Senator or his chancellor. 3 See above, p. 117, note 3. 

4 Fl. CCXL strenuo co?7iestabili Principato de Sancto Gregorio ad custodiam 
Capiiolii cum paghis XXX (4 May, 1463). (Mand. Cam., am 1462-1463, fol. 138, 
and an. 1464, fol. 38.) The pay was given to the men without intermediary. Yet, 
in 147Q, thirty florins were handed to Marino da Aquila " ad custodiam Capitolii 
sub obedientia Dni. Senatoris." 

5 Mand. Cam., an. 1464-1466, fol. 12, 66, 211, 291 ; an. 1466-1468, fol. 2, 68, 145 ; 
an. 1469-1470, fol. no, 215, 232; an. 1470-1471, fol. 9, 21, 62, 67, 108, 139; an. 
1471-1473, fol. 137 ; an. 1472-1476, fol. 18 ; an. 1482-1484, fol. 227, 250. Franciso 
de Cassia Comestabili ad custodiam Capitolii cum paghis XX conducto propter^ 
absentiam Dni. Papae (13 July), and so on. Later, in i486 : Flor. LXXV Iohanni 
de Ferraria Comestabili Capitolii pro eius et XXX pagharum unius mensis 
provisione (28 Nov.). — Flor. XXV Juliano de Aquila Cojnestabili Capitolii pro 
sua et X pagharum unius mensis provisione (1 Dec). — Flor. XXV Juliano de 
Aquila pro eius et X pagharum provisione unius mensis (1 Jan., 1487). (Mand. 
Camer,, an. 1484-1489, fol. 262, 264; an. 1487-1488, fol. 317.) In September, 1470, 
some repairs had been made to the quarters of the guards of the Capitol. 
Flor. XXXfl bol. LXXI Magro. Dominico de Florentia fabro lignaminis per eum 
expensis in faciendas cert as domus in palatio Capitolii pro usu stipendiatorum. 
(Mand. Cam., an. 1470-1471, fol. 21.) 

In closing this account of the guards of the Capitol, it is apposite to speak here 
of the geese.. The Capitol Museum possesses two in bronze, taken from the thermae 
of Diocletian, where the Chartreux fathers, who had a monastery there, had kept 
them piously with many other antiquities. In March, 1727, an antiquary, named 
Bertoli, bought all these antiquities for the Emperor of Germany, except the geese, 
which the Conservators claimed for the Capitol. (Cancellieri, 77 Colombo, p. 390.) 

Mention has already been made of the wall-painting, dating back (according to 
Gerardi) to the first half of the fourteenth century, and discovered in 1898, which re- 



FESTIVITIES HELD IN THE CAPITOL 117 



Festivities held in the Capitol in the Fifteenth 
Century. 

In 1408, the people having been partially reinstated in their 
liberties by the Holy See, the bannerets went to swear fidelity 
and obedience to the Cardinal Legate as representing the Pope. 
A public festivity was held on the occasion ; the Cardinal gave 
them banners which, in the haste, had not been quite finished ; 
and they bore these to the Capitol, where the caporioni, the 
heads of the quarters, were awaiting them. They were welcomed 
to the sound of trumpets and drums, and forthwith were installed 
in their palace. 1 

More regular rejoicings grew to be the custom with the coro- 
nation of each Pope. The officers and magistrates of the City 
met at an evening banquet, the expense of which was paid out 
of the Communal treasury. In 1471, on the occasion of the 
coronation of Sixtus IV., this expense amounted to the con- 
siderable sum of fifty florins. 2 

About the middle of the century, the custom began of pre- 
senting to the Senator and the people, assembled on the steps 
of the Capitol, the bulls that were to figure in the games which 
were celebrated each year, in the month of February, on Mount 
Testaccio. The presentation was made by the cafiorioni, whose 
duty it was to provide the bulls. Then the animals were taken 
in great pomp throughout the city. The rivalry of the various 
quarters broke out into a sanguinary struggle, whenever the 
bulls brought by one of the caporioni received too many marks 
of approbation. This was the case in 1483. The mares calchi 

presented the Capitoline geese. {Bullettino Arch. Com., an. 1899, tav. XII.) Though 
they were venerated in Rome, they were pursued with a tenacious hatred in France 
in the beginning of last century, if, at least, we may believe the Count Senator 
Lanjuinais. The following is a reply he wrote in May, 1810, to Abbd Cancellieri 
after a letter to him from the Abb6 : "... As regards the game called the beheading 
of the geese, it is still frequently practised in communes round Paris, and it was 
formerly practised in the town fetes of Paris. I have heard it conjectured that this 
game comes from a sort of vengeance and hatred nourished by the Gauls against 
the species of bird that prevented their army from seizing the Capitol." (Cancellieri, 
77 Mercato e Lago, p. 276.) This is how the game was played. 1 he players' eyes 
were bandaged, and they were placed at a certain distance from a hanging goose. 
Then they had to try to seize it and cut its head off with a knife. As they more 
often than not lost their way, they struck their blows in the air. It would seem, 
however, that the length of the goose'e neck, rather than the persistent hatred 
mentioned by Lanjuinais, suggested this bird's being employed in the game. Now, 
the game is still practised in country-places, but the goose is replaced by a nosegay 
tied to a string. 

1 Muratori, R. It. Script. XXIV. 980; Gregorovius, III. 592. 

2 Solvatis Magnificis alme Urbis Conservatoribus Jl. L pro expensis per eos 
factis in prandio officialium et civium romanorum qui offi.itia.runt SS me D. IV., 
in die coronationis (25 Sept., 1471). (Arckiv, di Stato, M, Camer,, 1471-1473, 
fol. 17.) 



u8 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

(horse police) of the Monti quarter came to blows with those of 
the Trans-Tiber quarter, the population of which, indeed, had a 
reputation, not unmerited, for pugnacity. The militia of the 
other quarters joined in the quarrel ; and the fray became so 
general and sanguinary that the Conservators, after vain 
efforts at intervention, were forced to hastily retire to their 
palace. 1 

Bull-fights on Mount Testaccio and the exhibition at the 
Capitol continued in the following century. Occasionally, the 
fight took place in the Square itself. The bulls were set at 
liberty, and dogs were allowed to enrage them ; after which 
those taking part in the games were required to master them. 
There is a reference to a bull-fight, in the Capitol, in an adver- 
tisement to the millers of the City, during the year 1535, that 
they must share in the expenses of the performance. 2 

The ceremonial of the festivity was not, however, changed ; 
the procession was held as usual. In 1536, the inhabitants of 
Tivoli, one of the vassal cities of Rome, attended with " their 
players " on horseback, clad in black velvet, and holding in sign 
of submission the red standard of the Roman people. 3 



Episodes. 

In 1424, Fra Bernardino of Sienna preached in the Capitol, 
near the obelisk. He spoke especially against magicians and 
sorcerers, who deceived the people. After hearing him, the 
people gathered on the Square a quantity of mystical objects 
used in witchcraft and burnt them. 4 Packs of cards were also 
burnt, says Paolo della Mastro, and many Jews were baptized. 5 

In 1448, another monk, Roberto da Lecce, preached on the 

1 Muratori, R. It. Script., XXIV. 1082. 

2 In the margin: " Significatio pro molendinariis. Text: Vobis Magi* 
Conservatoribus alme Urbis et aliis ad quos spectat. De mandato Etc. auctoritate 
Etc. harum serie signiftcamus qualiter cum molendinarii molarum aline Urbis ex 
causa solutionis impositionis trium Due. pro qualibet mola pro publico festo sive 
spectaculo Taurorum Carnisprivii in Capitolio die lune facto ad S.N.D. recursum 
habuissent S. S ta s hujusmodi causam nobis in Cam. Ap. cognoscere commisit. Ideo 
magnificentiam vestram hortamur ut eosdem Molendinarios donee causa 
htijusmodi in dicta Cainera cognita et decisafuerit molestare facere nolint. Dat. 
Rome in Cam. Ap. die X mensis Februarii 1535 (Archiv. Seg. Vat., Div. Camer. 
vol. 97, fol. 90). Bull fights h^d taken place, two centuries before, in the Coliseum. 
P. Adinolfi, Roma nelV Etct di Mezzo, I. 367. Cf. F. Clementi, 77 Carnevale 
Romano, Rome, without date, p. 33. Chronicle of Monaldeschi in Muratori, 
XII. 535. 

3 Forcella, Tornei e gzostri, Ingrcssi trionfali sotto Paolo III , Rome, 1875, p. 29. 

4 Infessura, ed. Tommasini, p. 25. 

5 Diario di Paolo dello Mastro, published by Achilles de Antonis in II Buonarroti, 
an. X. (1875), p. 39- 



AURELIA EXTRICATA 119 

Square of the Capitol, against the quarrels which permanently 
divided families and afflicted the city ; and, as always happens 
in such cases, he brought about a general but ephemeral 
reconciliation. 1 



AURELTA EXTRICATA. 

In the month of April, 1485, there was exhibited in the palace 
of the Conservators, near the cistern, the body of a child of 
fourteen or fifteen years old, which had been found in a sar- 
cophagus, five miles from Rome, amidst a heap of ruins known 
under the name of Roma Vecchia, at the spot called Fo?ido 
statuario^ along the Appian Way. It was an important event 
in the municipal life of Rome, and all the chroniclers had much 
to say about it. 3 This body was of wondrous beauty, and admir- 
ably preserved. Black hair confined in a net fell in abundant 
masses on either side of the head, over shoulders of the purest 
modelling ; the half-open mouth revealed teeth of a dazzling 
white and regularly arranged, and a pink tongue ; the lips were 
red, the eyebrows black ; and all the limbs retained the flexibility 
of life. The lead coffin in which it was placed contained a 
fragrant substance that some recognised as myrrh and frankin- 
cense, others as turpentine, and that had, whatever its nature, a 
strange and penetrating odour. 

The report of this discovery having spread abroad, an 
immense crowd flocked to see the sight. One would have 
thought it was an indulgence that was being proclaimed, says 
one of the narrators, judging by the way in which the Romans 
hastened to the Capitol. Dealers even established themselves 
on the Square to sell vegetables and other commodities. 4 The 
perfect preservation of the body gave rise to all sorts of sup- 
positions ; and people saw in it the manifest proof of a 

1 Infessura, p. 47. - Nibby, Analisi, III. 114. 

3 Diario di Nantiporto, Muratori, R. Ital. Script.. III 2 . 1093; Infessura, 178 ; 
letter from Bartolomeo Fonti to Francesco Sassetti, found in the Bibl. Universitaria 
di Bologna, cod. 2382, fob XXVI II., and published by Janitschek, Die Gesellschaft 
der Renaissance in Italien und die Kunst, Stuttgart, 1879, p. 120. Tommasini 
gives a nomenclature of the sources, in Infessura, p. 179, note. Pastor, History of 
the Popes (in French), t. V. 1898, p. 321, gives all the bibliography of this discovery. 
Cf. the study of Huelsen in Mittheil. d. oest. Instituts, IV. 433-449, and Tode, the 
same collection, pp. 75-91. 

4 Besides the sources mentioned above, Montfaucon, Diarium Italic, XI. 187 ; 
Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, 1892, p. 295 ; Tommasini, Campagna 
romana, J'ia Lati?ta, p. 50; Volterrano, Comment. Rer. Urb., 1551, c. 954; 
Nibby, Analisi storico-topografica delta carta dei Contomi di Roma, 1848, t. II. 
374. The Cod. Ashburnham, 1174, fob 134, contains an original design reproducing 
the body of Aurelia, such as it was discovered and brought to the palace of the 
Conservators. The Noiweatt Cracas, n. 12, Sept.-Dec, 1893, Rome, has re- 
produced the design in an article dealing with the whole of this discovery. 



120 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

miraculous protection. 1 There were certain persons who main- 
tained that the body was that of Tullia, Cicero's daughter. In 
order to put an end to the comments aroused by this exhibition, 
and to the legends that were beginning to be formed, Pope Inno- 
cent VIII. had the body taken away almost immediately and 
thrown into a grave outside the walls of the city, on the side of 
the Pincio villa, taking care that the place of burial should not 
be known. However, as soon as the body had been exposed to 
the contact of the air, it turned black. 

The inscription engraven on the sarcophagus in which it had 
been found was deciphered at a much later date. It read : 

M. M. 

AVREL 

EXTRICATE, 

the interpretation of which is " Manibus" or " Memoria Aurelie 
Extricate? The tragic masks with which the sides of the 
sarcophagus were adorned, suggested that the body was that of 
a ballet-dancer. 

1 Taceant quae loquuntur miracula -post crlsti adventum. Nam hoc quod ante 
putatur, longe majus est et admirabilius (Letter from Rome in G. Mancini, Vita 
di L. Valla, Florence, 1891, p. 161). Villamont, who visited Italy in 1589, writes, 
in the narration of his journey : " In the time of Pope Alexander VI., the body of a 
girl was found intact, and undecayed, having been preserved by means of balms, so 
that she seemed only to be asleep on a marble table where she was lying, her blonde 
hair still tied with a golden band ; and at her feet was a burning light, which, as soon 
as the sepulchre was opened, lost its lustre and splendour ; and, as could be known 
by the letters engraven there, it was thirteen hundred years since she had been put 
there, being the body of Tulliola, Cicero's daughter ; which body, having been 
presented intact to the Conservators of Rome, was placed in the Capitol, to be kept 
there as a relic. Which having heard, Pope Alexander had it thrown into the Tiber, 
saying that so to preserve with care the body of an infidel was not reasonable." — By 
this story, it will be recognised that the legend had already grown up. 




THE MODERN CAPITOL 



THE CAPITOL IN THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY 

Transformation of the Palaces. 

It was during the sixteenth century that the Capitol lost its 
aspect of a feudal stronghold, and became the correct-looking 
and symmetrically-framed building that it appears to-day. 1 

This transformation, which corresponds to that of the muni- 
cipal powers, 2 was effected by successive stages. During the 
first period, which extends from the beginning of the century to 
the sack of Rome in 1527, hardly any work was done except to 
the palace of the Conservators. The coming of the Emperor 
Charles V., in 1536, awoke in the Romans the ambition to make 
their common abode worthy of the illustrious name it bore. 
Michael Angelo was requested to transform the palaces. 
However, through lack of the necessary funds, the only thing- 
achieved during a lapse of nearly thirty years (1 536—1 563 about) 
was to lay out and ornament the Square of the Capitol, and to 
construct a fine and easy approach to it on the side of the City. 
When this task was accomplished, the entire plan as proposed by 
Michael Angelo was taken up again ; and the two palaces — 
that of the Senator and that of the Conservators — assumed 
almost the appearance they have at present. The work was 
completed when Pope Clement VIII. had reduced the height 
of the two towers of the Senatorial palace and joined them 
by a facade. Nothing remained to be done, except to terminate 

1 The Romans of this time appreciated it under its ancient form. " II Cani- 
pidoglio venerabile anchoret pin per forma che per vestigio che si vegga delta 

autiquitate," says M. Alberini, II Sacco di Roma, pub. by Orano, p. 475. 

2 It was in the beginning of the sixteenth century, or rather in the last quarter of 
the fifteenth century, that the Communal Council of Rome was progressively organ- 
ised. Composed at first of a few Capitoline magistrates, it ultimately numbered, by 
the middle of the century, more than fifty members. Its authority, which extended 
to all questions of edileship and municipal finance, became so great that it did not 
hesitate to enter into a struggle with the popes, and notably with Sixtus V. The 
Conservators presided over it, in turn, and were chosen by it. 



124 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the inside decoration and the painting. The last years of the 
century were devoted to this task. On the various representa- 
tions of the Capitoline palaces drawn during the century, the 
successive phases of the metamorphosis may be followed. 1 

At the commencement of the century, the Senatorial palace 
was a structure of a confused sort of architecture, flanked with 
four towers of unequal size, 2 battlemented, and with a tall 
campanile rising above it, with large apertures. On the side 
of Mount Caprino was the ornamental window from which 
the Senator witnessed executions, as he was in duty bound. 
Somewhat higher up, were two small windows similarly square. 
On the front, a broad straight staircase, with its steps rather 
steep, led to the loggia, to the lovium situated on the right of 
the palace close to one of the towers of Boniface IX. This 
loggia, of fine architecture, had two stories : six pillars, two of 
them being half let into the side walls, supported the entablature 
of the first story, which was rectangular ; in the second story, 
six other pillars upheld semicircular vaulted arches. On the 
left of the loggia, which stood back, the facade was pierced 
with six windows, the three lower of which were longer on one 
side than on the other ; they had grated bars to them, these 
lower ones, and perhaps served to let light into the prisons. The 
three higher windows had cross-bars, and a projecting marble 
casing round them. These were the windows that were 
ornamented, as has been said, in the time of Nicholas V. A 
flight of stairs, supported by three unequal vaulted arches, stood 
against the facade ; it would seem to have been an unfinished 
work, since it had no railings, and, on the other hand, had no 
door as its direct issue. A balcony ran along, above the 
windows and above the loggia, and covered the whole distance 
between the two towers. In the tower on the left were two 
rectangular windows, one above the other. 

That part of the palace which faced the Forum exhibited a 
confused mass of incongruous building. 

1 The most interesting representations of the Capitol, for this period, are those of 
Kock and those of Martin Heemskerck, the latter of whom sojourned in Rome from 
1553 to 1556, and worked under the direction of Michael Angelo. His minute 
accuracy is well known. With reference to Heemskerck's stay in Rome, see G. B. 
de Rossi, Panorama circolare di Roma delineato da M. Heemskerck ; Rome, 1892. 
The view of Rome by Wyngaerde, given in the Bullettino delta Com. Arch. Com. 
di Roma, 1900, tav. IV., IX., by the care and with a commentary of Thomas Ashby, 
junior, shows, for the group of the Capitoline palaces, an almost identical aspect. 
R. Lanciani has reproduced in the same bulletin, anno XXIII. 1895, p. 81, another 
plan, existing likewise in the Bodleian Library of Oxford, in the Sunderland volume 
171, entitled Large Prints of Clarendon and Burnet, vol. IV., topographical. 
Interesting information will also be found regarding the successive aspects offered 
by the Capitol in the sixteenth century, in the series of plans published by E. 
Rocchi, Le Piante di Roma i Rome, T903. 

2 Only two, however, are shown, as a rule, in representations of the period that 
give a view of the Capitol. 



TRANSFORMATION OF THE PALACES 125 

The palace of the Conservators presented a somewhat mean 
appearance. On the ground floor were arcades, in the first of 
which was visible the gigantic head of Domitian. In the 
middle, on either side of the entrance, were the two figures 
representing rivers, which were, one after the other, in the 
course of the century, removed to the foot of the staircase in 
the Senatorial palace. 1 The She-Wolf, given by Sixtus IV., 
was still above the door, in the centre of the facade. 2 In 
Pinardo's plan (1555), in that of Fabio Lici (1557), and even in 
the subsequent plans of Dosio and Cartaro, the palace of the 
Conservators looks to be a structure of small height and no 
architecture. 

At one of the ends of the declivity extending from the church 
of S. Maria Aracoeli to the Square stood an obelisk with four 
crouching lions as its basement. 3 In the vicinity were pillars, 
here and there, which were destined to disappear when the 
Square was restored. On one side grew the lofty palm which 
was long the pride of the Romans, and figures on all representa- 
tions of the Capitol. 

1 These two groups, the gift of Pope Leo X., seem to belong to the time of the 
Antonines ; they came from the temple of Serapis, situated on the Quirinal. At 
first it was thought they represented Saturn and Bacchus. In 1513, Fulviosaw them 
still on the Quirinal, then called Monte Cavallo on account of the statues of the 
Dioscuri that were there. He took them to be likenesses of the river-gods Achelous 
and Ister, " in quortim manibus stat fileno copia cornu."' See Michaelis, art. 
quoted, p. 25 sqq. It was in 1517 that they were removed to the Capitol, the cost 
of the transfer, &c, being eighty ducats (Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi di Roma, 
p. 183). One of the two figures, that which represented the Tigris, had a tiger beside 
it. This was replaced by a she- wolf, and the figure then received the name of the 
Tiber, which was more suited to the place it was intended to occupy. The change 
was made towards the middle of the century. Gamucci still speaks of a tiger in 
1565, as also Aldrovandi, who wrote in 1550 (p. 269) ; Vasari, of a she-wolf, in 1568. 
Moreover, a text explaining an engraving by Cavalieri mentions the change : 
" Aniiqtia statua Tygridis fluvii marmorea quam rece7itiores statuarii Tiberi 
accomodarunt. ..." The other group represented the Nile. Michaelis, p. 29, 
quotes a text- of 1529 that seems to prove it was about this date that the removal of 
the groups in front of the Senatorial palace took place : " Hoggi amendue quest i 
simulacri si iolgono da questo luogo per riporii davanti al palazio di Campidoglio 
e ne hanno gia tolto via uno." However, Lucio Mauro, who wrote in 1556, says, 
p. 11 : " Dinanzi la casa de conse-rvatori su la piazza si veggono duo gran simu- 
lacri di marino che sono duo fiutni il Nilo e Tigri o pure la Nera e'l Teverone che 
amendue col Tevere si congiungono." Aldrovandi says: " A pie del palagio del 
Campidoglio sono duo gran simulacri 7)iarmorei di duo fiumi '; I'uno e il Nilo . . . 
Valtro e Tigre. . . . Non mancano gia. di quelli, che dicono, che queste statue siano 
de V Aniene, e della Nera. . . ." It is known that a statue of the Nile exists at the 
Vatican, and a statue of the Tiber at the Louvre ; both were discovered in the ponti- 
ficate of Leo X., near the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva ; they came apparently 
from the temple of Isis (Helbig, no. 4). 

2 " Eminet ante fores primoque in limine port ae" says Andrea Fulvio (1513) ; 
"... Pro aedibus conservatorum" (1527), ibid. ; " In frontispicio ipsanim 
aedium" Marliani, in Michaelis, p. 19. 

3 It had long been in this place. Antonio di Pietro speaks of it in the year 1407 : 
" Vidi Dominum Nicolaum di Ursinis armatum, una cum dicto populo stantem 
equestrem cum multis aliis de gentibus armorum Pauli de Ursinis, stantem in 
platea Capitolii ante Guliam dicti Capitolii cum multis himinariis expectantem 
novam. . . ." (Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 984). 



126 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Kock's plan, which was designed in 1562, shows the Sena- 
torial palace, before it was altered ; but one of the statues has 
been placed at the foot of the staircase. The palace of the 
Conservators has already undergone a first transformation ; 
above the arcades are cross-bar windows surmounted with an 
entablature ; a third row of windows appears below the roof; 
on the extreme left is seen a sort of loggia, reminding the 
spectator of that of the Senatorial palace, and perhaps used also 
as a tribunal. The statue of Marcus Aurelius figures in the 
centre of the Square. 

In 1505, on the plan by Lafreri, and in the design repro- 
duced by Professor Lanciani, the Senatorial palace has not 
altogether lost its primitive aspect ; but the loggia no longer 
exists ; the stairs are built ; and a buttress-wall encloses the 
Square on the side towards the Aracoeli church. 

In representations posterior to this period — that of Marcucci, 
for instance, dated 1625 — the Capitol is shown such as it now 
exists with the three-storied bell-tower which was not built until 
the closing years of the century. On the right appears the 
palace of the Conservators in its completed state : and on the 
left the buttress- wall, at that time ornamented with a niche. 



First Period. 

In the year 1520, Pietro Squarcialupi, 1 who was the Senator 
in office, asked permission from the Communal Council to take 
a number of blocks of travertine found during excavations made 
round the Arch of Septimus Severus, and to use them for finish- 
ing the work he had undertaken, at his own expense, in the 
loggia^ of the palace of the Conservators. The Conservators 
gave him the permission, stipulating, however, that the removal 
of the blocks should be carried out in such a way as not to en- 
danger the stability of the arch. A commission was appointed 
to superintend the excavations. 2 Squarcialupi, indeed, was 
a great destroyer of antiquities. He had formed a sort of 

1 Count Pietro Squarcialupi was twice Senator, in 1511-1512 and in 1517- 
1520. It was during his first magistracy that Pope Julius II., by his Bull, " Decet 
R oinanum pontificem," of the 28th of March, 1512 {Bull. Rom., V. 511), increased 
the forum of the Capitol, that is, the Senator's and Capita line magistrates' jurisdic- 
tion, which was the subject of continual dispute between the people and the papacy. 
This fact was commemonted by an inscription recently discovered and published 
with notes by Professor G. Gatti in the Bull, della Com. ArcJieol. Comunale di 
Roma, an. XXIX., 1901, p. 270. 

2 On the 22nd of Sept., 1520. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 83. Cf. 
R. Lanciani, Destruction of Ancient Rome, p. 248. 



MICHAEL ANGELAS PROJECT 127 

partnership with an association of men who were making profit 
out of the ruins of the City and the Capitoline hill itself. 1 

The work he did, however, was not very important ; and the 
appearance of the palace continued to be almost the same. It 
was, perhaps, at this time that the tribunal of the Conservators 
was transferred to the centre of the palace, where it was at the 
end of the century. 

In 1 52 1 and 1522, the palace courtyard was enlarged: 2 but 
financial difficulties presented themselves. The Council were 
embarrassed to find the funds needed to pay the architect's bills. 
The protonotary's office had to be sold ; and it was decided 
that the sums set apart for the restoration of the Pantheon 
should be employed otherwise than at first intended. 3 

However, even after the embellishments that had just been 
made, the courtyard of their palace seemed to the Conservators 
" imperfect and lacking in shape" ; now, the jubilee year of 1525 
was approaching, during which the affluence of Christians would 
be, undoubtedly, very great in Rome. It was, therefore, deter- 
mined that " for the honour of the City," a sum of a hundred 
crowns should be devoted to rendering the courtyard more 
decent. 4 However, the sack of Rome took place in 1527 ; and 
all the work was interrupted for several years. 

In 1523, the creation of a library and archives had been 
resolved on. 5 

Michael Angelo's Project. 

The announcement of the arrival of Charles V. in Rome 
aroused a feverish desire for demolishing, restoring and building. 

1 Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi di Roma, p. 195. The Communal Council 
interfered. An article of the statutes, moreover, prohibited the destruction of ancient 
edifices, De Antiquis aedificiis non diruendis, Bk. II., art. 191, Statutes of 1363 ; 
it was renewed in the succeeding statutes. On the 10th of March, 1520, the following 
resolution was adopted at a meeting of the Council : "Primus conservator . . . 
exposuit qualiter de auitorum Romanorwn gestis in amfilitudine edificior. et 
illor. dec ore nil aliud hits presentibus temporibus oculatim videlur nisi ceu diruta 
-balatia, termae, archus, theatra et amfihitreata (sic) ac balnea aquarq. latrine 
que omnia si Romanor. facultas tanta esset quod restatirari et conservari pos.sint 
nulli dubium ad ostendendum illorui7i animi ac potentie vires oi?inibus qui ex 
documentis ipsor. notitiain kabent et locor. inspectione certiorcs redderentur. Qtie 
omnia pre uiribus inlesa custodiri debent. Qua propositione audita beneq. in 
huius7nodi senatus consult o cognita per patres ibidem manentes decreiu extitit 
quod si facultas restaurandi Ro7nanis deest a deuastantibus tueantur reiq. du7u 
inue7iiuntur graui pena puniantur." Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 14, fol. 119 
and vol. 36, fol. 73. Lanciani, p. 195. Cf. F. Cerasoli, Usi e Regola77ienti pe7' 
gli Scavi . . . Rome, 1897. 

2 The payments were made to the " M r agister Do77iinicus architector qtci dilatavit 
cortile palatii." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. L, vol. 36, fol. 104 and 105. Sitting of 
the 20th of Nov., 1521. 

3 Sitting of the 29th of Oct., 1524. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I., vol. 15, fol. 131. 
Cf. vol. 36, fol. 188. See also Lanciani, Sto7'ia degli Scavi, p. 206. 

4 Ibid., Cred. I., vol. 15, fol. 147 and 148. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. L, v. 36, f. 139. 



128 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The forum had been all pulled about, and more than two hun- 
dred houses were razed to the ground. Old edifices and 
churches were destroyed, in order that the Romans might treat 
the Emperor, who, some twelve years previously, had been the 
cause of the pitiable sack of the City, to an entry which was 
worthy of him. It was deemed proper not to leave the Municipal 
palaces in the dilapidated state they were ; 1 and so the 
Communal Council, desirous of displaying their power, applied 
to Michael Angelo to transform them. 

Michael Angelo, therefore, drew out the plan of a series of 
alterations by which, while respecting the ancient structures, he 
proposed to hide these with a regular fagade, and to do away 
with the confusion of towers, loggias, corners, stairs and un- 
equal roofs which had grown up, picturesque but lacking unity, 
during five centuries of change. This plan has been reproduced 
by Etienne du Perac. 

The project, in particular, 2 united the two corner towers by a 
fagade with square windows. A large double flight of stairs, 
the parapet of which was. adorned with statues, gave access, 
by means of a loggia, to the principal entrance, which opened 
into the Senator's audience-chamber. The sides were decorated 
with the allegorical figures of the Nile and the Tiber. In a 
niche, contrived in the centre, and surrounded with pilasters, 
was a statue of Jupiter. The flat roof was to have been bordered 
with a balustrade surmounted by statues, and a one-story 
campanile rose above the palace. 

The facade of the palace of the Conservators was of the 
same style as that of the Senator's palace ; but was less lofty, 
and had pilasters half let into the walls. The loggia remained ; 
the apertures, however, instead of being arcades, had a 
rectilineal entablature. 3 All the windows of the first story were 
to be equal, an indication which was not followed, and a 
balustrade and statues garnished the roof, as in the case of the 
principal palace. Opposite, and at the foot of the church of 
S. Maria Aracoeli, would stand a third palace, like that of the 
Conservators. A staircase, adorned with some of the statues 
already possessed by the Capitoline Museum, would lead from 
the Square of the Capitol to the bottom of the hill on the 
Aracoeli square. At the entrance to the Square, the Dioscuri 

1 It will be seen that, thirty years later, the palaces, although restored, were 
scarcely habitable. 

2 Description given by Vasari, Vita de Michelangelo, Florence, 1881, VII. 222. 

3 The two palaces are not quite at right angles : Burckhardt, The Cicerone, Art 
moderne (in French), p. 246, sees in this slant a skilful design of Michael Angelo. It 
is rather a happy effect of chance, since the palace of the Conservators exis'ed 
previously to the time of Michael Angelo, and was simply modified according to his 
indications. Cf. p. 155. 



MICHAEL ANGELAS PROJECT 



129 



would occupy the site on which, indeed, they now stand ; only 
they were to have been placed sideways, not frontways. It 
should, however, be remarked, that they were not discovered 
until the pontificate of Pius IV. Perhaps Michael Angelo 
intended to bring to the Capitol those of the Quirinal, which, as 




FIG. 24. — BASEMENT PORTION OF THE TOWER OF MARTIN V. 

a matter of fact, are much finer. In the centre of the Square 
would stand the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. 



Tower called the Tower of Martin V. 

Before speaking of the execution of this programme, it will be 
proper to mention certain alterations that were carried out 
between 15 10 and 1545, not very important, it is true, but 
enabling several magistrates to let in to the tower nearest the 
church of S. Maria Aracoeli numerous inscriptions, together 
with their escutcheons. This tower thus became one of the 
most interesting portions of the Capitoline edifice. 

On the right is the escutcheon of the Gualdi family, with two 

K 



130 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



inscriptions on either side, and another below, recording the 
names of Galeotto and his son Francesco, both Senators of Rome, 
Galeotto in 1510, Francesco in 1530. 

The inscription on the left 
reads : 



The inscription on the right : 

PAVLO. Ill 

REGNANTE 

FRANCISCVS GVALDVS 

ARMINENSIS 

ROMANVS. SENATOR 

GALEOTTI. PATRIS 

VESTIGIA IMITATVS 

VIRTVTES ASSECVTVS 

AN. DOM. M. DXXXIX 



IVLIO. II 

PONT. MAX 

GALEOTTVS. DE. GVALDIS 

VIR PRIMARIVS 

ARMINIENSIS 

STRENVI. GALEOTTI 

MALATESTAE 

EX. FILIA. NEPOS 

EQVES. COMES 

ETVRBIS SENATOR 

ANNO. M. DX. 

Below : 

SVMNO. PAVLO. III. PONTIFICATV 

FRANCISCVS. GVALDVS. ARMINENSIS 

SVB EODEM. PONTIKICE. ITERVM. SENATOR 

QVOD. EXPERIENTIA. MERVIT. GLORIA. COMPROBAVIT. 

M.D. XLIIl.l 

Above, and nearer to the projecting part of the tower, are the 
armorial bearings of the Senator Nicolo Tolosano, surmounted 
with an inscription. 

NIC. THOLOSANVS COLLE 

CI. FLO. V. I. DOC. E. ECO. 

SVB. PAV. III. P. M. SENA. 

OFF. FVNGEBATVR. 

AN 1544 E 1545 E 1546. 2 

Lower down than the first escutcheon already spoken of, and 
on the left, surrounded with a garland, below which are four 
small pendentives containing the coats of arms of the three 
Conservators and the prior of the caporioni then in office, is an 
inscription recording the transformation of the Capitol. 

INNOCENT. XII. PON. MAX. 
DVM IN ROMAM DE THESAVRO SVO 
NOVA ET VETERA PROFERT 
ROMA CAPITOLIVM VETVSTATE CONFECTVM 
IMPERAT INSTAVRANDVM 
VT ANTIQVIS DVM NOVA CONGLVTINAT 
TANTO PONTIFICI RESPONDERET 
NOVA ET VETERA SERVAVI TIBI 
MVTIVS DE MAXIMIS ^ 
LEONARDVS CIOGNIVS \ CONS. 
LVTIVS SABELLVS J 
SCIPIO HIPPOLYTVS DE ROSSI c. R. P. 
AN. DOM. M. DC. XCII.3 

1 Forcella, I. n 48. The first of the above inscriptions should be compared with 
the following one, also existing in the Capitol. 

IVLIO. II. PONT. MAX. GALEOTTVS DE GVALDIS 

NOBILIS ARMINENSIS. V. I. CONS. EQVES ET 

COMES VRBIS SENATOR ANNO M.D.X.P. 

Forcella, I. n. 35. 2 Forcella, I. n. 49. 3 Forcella, I. n. 191. 



S TA TUB OF MARC US A U RE LI US 1 3 1 

Furthur to the left is a group comprising a bass-relief, which 
represents a profile, supposed to be that of Scipio Africanus 
and transferred to this spot by the care of Gualdus. Two 
inscriptions are on the right and left, and one beneath. 

On the left : On the right : 



+ S. P. Q. R. 
COMITESbORTIA 

MAKESCOTTO 

MARCO ANTONIO 

CITARELLA 

MARCHIONE FABRITIO 

NARO 

CONSERV. 

FLAMINIO PICHIO 

CAP. REG. PRIORE 



+ S. P. Q. R. 

IOANNE RINALDO 

MONALDENSE 

EX DNIS 

MONTIS CALVELLI 

POP. ROM. 

IN PONTIFICAT. INTERR. 

COPIARVM 

DVCE. 



SCIPIONEM AFRICANVM 

CVM HISCE TROPHEORVM RELIQVIS 

ET PALLADE CONCILIATA 

COMITE TRIVMPHATEM AD 

CAPITOLIVM IN IMAGINE 

HAC VELVTI VMBRA REDVCEM 

E MVSEO SVO EXIBVIT 

FRANCISCVS GVALDVS ARIM1NEN 

EQVES S. STEPHANI ANNO CIO 10 CLV 1 

A mask crowns the whole. Somewhat higher, by themselves, 
on the right, are the armorial bearings of the Senator Giacomo 
Bovio, with a fleur-de-lis at the top, and an inscription re- 
cording his services. 



Below 



IACOBO. BOVIO. IVRE CONS. BONO. SENA- 
TORI AE MAIESTATIS. MVNERE. LEONti 
X. PON. MAX. SEVKRE. COMITERQ. INTE- 
GERRIME. FVNCTO. S. P. Q. R. V1R. 
TVTIS ERGO BENEMERENTI. d. d. 
M. D. XIIII.2 



Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. 

The only portion of the embellishments planned by Michael 
Angelo which he lived to see completed was the placing, on the 
Square of the Capitol, of the equestrian statue which up to 
then had adorned the Square of the Lateran. 

The old exclamation of the peasant, " Why don't you move 
— you know that you are alive, 5 ' 3 has been applied to this piece of 

1 Forcella, I. n. 154. 2 Forcella, I. n. 37. 

y The exclamation is generally attributed to the painter Pierre de Cortone. 
M. Moret, The Picturesque in the Middle Ages (in French), Paris, 1839, ex " 
planation of plate 95. 

K 2 



132 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

sculpture. And, indeed, it is one of the most precious antique 
bronze statues that have survived the cupidity of barbarian 
invaders, and the hard circumstances of succeeding ages, as 
also one of the finest works of art that exist. " Every other 
bronze horse must be the humble servitor of this one," said the 
President De Brosses. 

The legends to which it gave rise were the cause of its pre- 
servation. They are of two kinds and quite distinct. The first 
series, of more popular origin and more naive, produced the 
account related by the Mirabilia} In the period of the Consuls 
and Senators, a mighty king arrived in Italy from the east, and 
attacked the city on the side of the Lateran Gate, pillaging the 
neighbourhood. 2 He inflicted great losses on the Roman people. 
Now, it happened that a warrior of tall stature, and as brave as 
he was skilled, came to the Consuls and Senators, and asked 
them what reward they would give him, if he delivered them 
from this scourge. He was told that he might have whatever 
he desired. " Give me," he said, " thirty thousand sesterces, 
and promise me, when the war is finished, to perpetuate the 
remembrance of my victory by a handsome horse in gilded 
bronze." The promise was made. Then he ordered the 
Romans to proceed in arms to the city walls, at the approach of 
night, and to hold themselves in readiness to obey him. 

He had remarked that the king came each night to the foot 
of a tree on which perched a bird that began to sing at the 
king's arrival. 

At eventide, he mounted on a horse, barebacked took a pruning 
hook, and, as soon as the bird began to warble, advanced to the 
spot where the king had retired. The people of the royal suite 
imagined he was one of themselves, but, none the less, called 
to him to withdraw if he did not desire to be hanged. But he, 
while pretending to go away, rushed on the king, who was a 
small man, and carried him off; at the same time shouting to 
the Romans : " Come forth and cut up the enemy's army, for I 
have their king." This the Romans did ; and the besiegers 
were routed with great slaughter, and in their camp an important 
booty was captured. 

As they had pledged themselves, the Romans raised to their 
deliverer a statue that represented him on his horse, without 
saddle, stretching forth his right hand, with which he had seized 
the king ; while a bird was on his head, and the horse was 
represented as trampling the hostile king under his feet. 3 

1 " Later ani est quidam caballus ereus qui dicitur Const antini. Sed noti est 
ita. . ." Page 36, line 18 (ed. Parthey). 

2 The Mirabilia and the descriptions of this epoch do not say who was this 
Eastern king ; an author of the sixteenth century, Prospettivo Milanese, calls him 
Asdrubal. See note 3 on p. 134. 3 See what is said on page 134, note 1. 



STATUE OF MARCUS A U RE LI US 



133 



It is difficult to elucidate the origin of this legend. It may, 
perhaps,- be explained by the fact that if the spectator places 
himself in front of the horse, the tuft of mane on the animal's 
forehead has a certain resemblance to a barn-owl. Moreover, 




FIG. 25. — STATUE OF MARCUS AURELIUS. 



primitively, a man was under the horse's hoofs,, as is proved by 
copies made of the group. 1 

But the legend of the " great villain," ilgran villano? although 
countenanced and propagated by the extensively read book of 

1 See what is said on the next page in note 1. 

2 Gamucci writes (fol. 20, V.) in 1565 : " Quellafamosa statua equestre di Marco 
Aurelio . . . la quale e chia7Jiata da volgari de nostri tempi il\ Gran VillanoJ" 
Chevalier Harff, who came to Rome in 1497, speaks thus of the statue {Die 



134 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the Mirabilia and the descriptive works that it engendered, 
never had the same vogue as that which made the statue out to 
be that of the Emperor Constantine. It was under the latter 
denomination that the statue was generally known throughout 
the Middle Ages, and was reproduced in far-off countries. 1 

However, the statue was spoken of by many other names. 
In the deliberations of the Lateran Chapter, it is designated 
under the name of Antony's statue. 2 Poggio, who lived in the 
time of Eugenius IV., calls it the statue of Septimus Severus. 3 
Nicholas Muffel of Nuremberg, who came to Rome in 1452, in 
the suite of the Emperor Frederick V., mixes up the two versions 
and asserts the statue to be that of " a villain named Septimus 
Severus.''' 4 Those who had pretensions to learning thought 
differently. " Peregrini Theodoricum vocaiit, vulgus Constan- 
tinum sed Clerici Curiae Marcum sen Quintum Curtium appel- 
lant" says Gregorius Magister in a book of Mirabilia, a few 



Pilgerfahrt dcs Ritters Arnold von Harff . . . Cologne, i860; translation of 
De Reumont, in the ArcJiiv. Vencto, vol. XL, part I. 1876, p. 134) : " Sulla piazza 
(of St. John Lateran) davanti alia chiesa sta eretta una statua equestre di bronzo 
quale fit posta a un contadino divenuto capitano a Roma, che liberd la cittd dai 
nemicl imitando il suono del cuculo, di che si misero altamente a ridere gli 
assediante." 

1 Arbellot, Pamphlet on the equestrian statues of Constantine placed in the 
churches of the West of France (in French), Limoges, Paris, 1885. In these 
reproductions, the captive is seen under the horse's hoofs, as mentioned in the 
Mirabilia. They spread the opinion that the original statue was in marble. Richard 
of Poictiers wrote, in 1293, in his Complainte, 

Constantine cades equo de mar 7nore facto 
Et lapis erectus et mult a palatia Romae. 

Richard the Poictevin, art. of Berger in the Library of the French Schools 0/ 
Athens and Roine, VI. (1879), p. 2. Cf. A. Graf, Roiiia nella Memoria, II. 112. 

2 Galletti, Cod. Vat., 8039; deliberation of the 15th of Aug., 1498 (see further 
on); Marcus Aurelius was surnamed Antoninus, which may have created the 
confusion. However, in a deliberation dated 20 'Oct. of the same year, we read : 
"Statua Aureliani vulgariter Constantiniana. ,> Ibid., 8036, fol. 257. — In the 
deliberation of the Communal Council which ratified the removal of the statue to the 
Square of the Capitol, it is designated under the name: " Statue of M. Antony." 
Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 36, pi. 379. 

3 De Varietate Foj-tunae, ed. Giorgi, p. 21. 

4 Nicolaus Muffels, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, herausgegeben von Wilhelm 
Vogt, Tubingen, 1876. This confusion was still made by some authors in the 
sixteenth century Prospettivo Milanese, in his Antiquarie Prospettiche romane, 
writes, in 1500 : 

Evi di Constantino vn gran ronzone 
• Staui quel grande chucise Asdrubello. 
Sono ambedui di gran pc7fectione. 

Atti Accad. Lincei, Ser. II. vol. III. part III. p. 51, and Gilberto Govi, Rome, 1376, 
who publishes the text with comments. — Gamucci, Le Antichitd di Roma, Venice, 
1569, writes, p. 16: " Ncl centro delta piazza di Campidoglio la famosa statua 
equestre di Marco Awelio." Aldrovandi, Le Statice di Roma, p. 268, says: 
"JVel mezzo delta piazza del Campidoglio si vide la bella statua equestre di bronzo 
di M. Aureliojilosofo et Imperatore : e sta in habito e gesto di paceficatore, Dicono, 
eft dla fosse di Antonio Pio; altri di L. Vero ; altri di Septimio Sever o, . . . 



STATUE OF MARCUS AURELIUS 



135 



fragments only of which have been preserved by the English 
monk, Ralph Higden. 1 

However, the common opinion was that the statue represented 
the Emperor Constantine ; 2 and this was why it received 
universal admiration. It was made to play a part in every 
solemnity. When the tribune Cola di Rienzo gave a magnificent 
fete to the Roman people, on his being consecrated a knight, an 
ingenious artifice, the mystery of which no one could fathom, 
enabled wine and water to flow from the horse's nostrils. A 
mantle of vair, with which the horse was covered, apparently 
helped the illusion. 3 Indeed, it was the custom, in the Middle 
Ages, for those who wished to be popular in Rome, to offer a 
mantle to the horse. In the Roman de Ron, Wace relates that 
Robert I., Duke of Normandy, did this : 



Saw Constantine in Rome display'd 

In manly shape, of copper made, 

Of copper is the horse also, 

No wind nor rain them overthrow. 

Such is the fame and the honour 

Of Constantine the Emperor, 

To whom the image stands upright 

And whose the name is that it night, 

He had it with a mantle clad, 

The richest one that can be had. 



Costentin uit, ki ert a. Rome 

De quiure fait, en guise de home, 

Cheval a de quiure ensement, 

Ne muet pur pluie ne pur uent. 

Pur la hautece e pur la honur 

De Costentin l'empereur, 

En ki nun l'image est leuee 

E par ki nun est appelee, 

La fist d'un mantel afubler 

Del plus liche qu'il peut trouer. 4 



The fate of the city was considered to depend on that of the 
horse. This belief was still current when Ampere visited Rome. 
A child, showing him the traces of gilt that were visible on the 
statue, told him they were increasing. "When the statue is 
gilded all over," he said, " the world will perish." However, in 
1636, the Senator Orazio Albani had been obliged to issue an 
order forbidding stones or mud to be thrown at it. 5 

The statue is said to have first stood in the Area of the 
Forum, where, according to Father Thedenat, traces of the 

1 De Rossi, Piante di Roma, p. 77 ; cf. Adinolfi, Laterano e Via Maggiore, 
p. 71 ; Jordan, Topog., II. 370, 385 ; Stevenson, Annali delV Istituto Arch., 1877, 
P- 375 5 Tizzani, Atti delV Accad. Rom. di Archeologia, nuova seria, I. 24T. 

2 Martinelli, Roma ricercata, p. 795, who wrote in the seventeenth century, says : 
" Nel mezzo della piazza i I famoso cavallo di met alio caualcato da Marco 
Aurelio Antonino secondo alcuni, e secundo altri da L. Vero, se bene molti kan 
creduto, come testijica il Fzdvio, esser di L. Settim Seuero ; ma e chiamato 
dal volgo c dal Bibliotecario di Constantino per che staua su la piazza del Palazzo 
Lateranense." Cf. Gamucci. See p. 138, note 1. Miintz, The Arts at the Court 
of the Popes (in French), III. 179, reproduces orders to pay, relating to the restora- 
tion of this statue, which show that it was commonly known under this denomina- 
tion. See further on, p. 139, note t. 

3 Cron. Mtitinense; Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XV. 608. 

4 Ed. Andresen, Heilbronn, 1877, II. 152^.3051. 

5 "Che nessuno abbia ardire tirare sassi,fanga o simili mat erie nel Cavallo di 
bronzo esistente in detta piazza, sotto le medesime pene. Datum Rome ex nostro 
Capitolio, hac die 10 Aprilis, 1636. Horatio Albani Senatore" Casanatense 
Library, Collez. Bandi, vol, VI. no. 171, 



136 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

base on which it stood may be seen. 1 Later, it was transported 
to the site it occupied, for a long time, in front of the Lateran 
church. 2 We read that, when the Antipope Boniface (974) was 
murdered, his body was cast at the feet of the horse, in the 
" campum ante caballuni Constantini" terms which, to tell the 
truth, may apply just as well to the campus lateranensis as to 
the campo vaccina? Some years previously (966), the corpse 
of Pietro, prefect of Rome in the time of John XIII., had been 
tied to it by the hair. 4 

It has, however, been maintained that the statue in question 
once adorned the palace of Annius Verus, which was near the 
Lateran, and in which Marcus Aurelius lived for a long while, 
and that it had never figured on the Forum, since it seemed 
difficult to admit that, between the eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies, so famous a statue could have been removed from the 
foot of the Capitol to the Lateran, without any mention being 
made of the fact. 5 

Some have thought the removal of the statue had been 
effected at a comparatively recent date. What may have 
fostered the belief is that passage of the Ferrara biographer of 
Clement III. which says that this Pope enlarged the Lateran 
palace, and had a golden horse made to decorate its facade. 6 
In his Bolognese chronicle, Fra Bartolommeo della Pugliola 
repeats the assertion, and specifies that the horse was in 
bronze. 7 The reference, therefore, must be to the horse of 
Marcus Aurelius, which Clement III. had, no doubt, ordered to 
be repaired. 8 

The statue was badly in need of repairs, if we may judge by a 
reproduction existing, among other Renascence bronzes, in the 
royal Dresden museum. It is attributed to Antonio Averlino, 

1 Henry Thedenat, The Roman Forum (in French), Paris, 1904, pp. 167, 286 ; 
Giampini, De Sacris Aedific, cap. 2 ; Palladio, Archit., Book IV. c. IX. See also 
Stevenson's article, Annali del! Istituto Archeologico, 1S77, p. 373 ; Antichi 
Edifizi al Laterano. Fea mentions an itinerary in which the Tewplum Pads and 
the Caballus Constantini are spoken of together. In the Einsidlensian itinerary 
(eighth century), the Cavallus Constantini is placed near the Arch of Septimus 
Severus {Codex Urbis Romae, Urlichs, p. 71). Cf. Vacca, n. 18. 

2 According to A. Graf, II. III. it was Pope Sergius III. (903-911) who probably 
ordered the removal. Cf. Adinolfi, Roma nelV Eta di Mezzo, I. 250. 

3 Muratori, Annates, V. 262; Gregorovius, II. 74; Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, 
II. 254. 4 Muratori, R. Italic. Script., III 2 . 331. 

5 Storie-'delle Arti del Disegno di Giovanni Winkelmann, transla ion much 
corrected and augmented by Abbe Fea, Rome, 1784, III. 411. Winkelmann's 
work, Geschichte der Kunst, had appeared at Dresden in 1764. The removal of so 
heavy a group must, in fact, have been very troublesome. It was accomplished 
only with great difficulty in the sixteenth century. 

6 " Equum quoque aureum fieri fecit ':" Muratori, R. Italic. Script., IX. 178. 
Yet the text given by the Liber Pontificalis says merely : " Puteum ante ereum 
equum fecit fieri." Life of M. Polonius, II. 451. 

7 Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XVIII. 246. 
9 This Pope reigned from 1187 to 1191. 



STA TUE OF MARCUS A URELIUS 



137 



says Filarete, who worked in the time of Eugenius IV. ; J this 
reproduction, therefore, indicates the probable aspect of the 
statue before the repairs made to it, in the pontificates of 
Paul II. and Sixtus IV., which were the first that we have any 
certain knowledge of. 2 It may be that the deteriorations 
noticeable are peculiar to Filarete's copy ; but, on the one hand, 




FIG. 26. — THE HORSE OF MARCUS AURELIUS IN FRONT OF THE 

lateran. (ciampini, De Sacris Aedificus a Co?istantino Magno 
coiistrnctis : Rome, 1693, III. 17, pi. 5.) 



it is said, in a document of the year 1474, that the group was 
" vetustate quassatum et collabentem " ; 3 on the other hand, the 

1 It was made by order of the Pope and offered to Peter de Medici, in 1465, 
Bulletin de la Societe des Antiquaires de France, 1885, 4 tn quarterly number, p. 
271, communication of M. Courajod on Filarete. See Courajod, Certain Bronze 
Sculptures of Filarete (in French), Paris, 1886. 

a In the work of G. Rohault de Fleury, The Lateran in the Middle Ages (in 
French), plate L., the statue of Marcus Aurelius is shown on the socle it occupied at 
the Lateran. Into this socle are let the armorial bearings of Pope Boniface VIII., 
Gaetani (1294-1303), which might lead one to suppose that this pontiff or some one 
of his family undertook to restore it, or to restore the statue. 

3 Cancellieri, Solenni J>ossessi, p. 198. The text reads as a whole : " Equum 
aencttm vetustate qiiassatuiu et jam collabentem cum J~es sore Marco Aurelio 
Antonino restituit, quern ante- aedem Const antinianae Basilicae cernimus" Life 



138 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

high price of the repairs shows that they must, in fact, have been 
very important. One is therefore entitled to suppose that, at the 
time, the right foot and left hind leg of the horse were wanting. 
However, Filarete certainly added, in front of the horse's legs, a 
high-crested helmet ornamented with bass-reliefs that had some 
resemblance to the subjects of classical antiquity. On one side is 
a centaur carrying off a woman ; on the other, two men wrestling ; 
on the visor is a ram's head. The background from which the 
figures stand out is engine-turned or rather hammered. 1 

The horse is asserted, but wrongly, it would seem, to have 
been cast into a bog, from which Sixtus IV. had it taken out. 2 

Paul II., the Venetian Pope, who had such a passion for art, 
undertook to restore this statue so unfortunately injured. As 
early as the second year of his reign, in 1466, he gave orders 
for the work to be begun ; but, at the time, all that was done 
was to erect round the statue a big plank shed, which cost very 
dear. However, in 1468, three hundred florins were paid to the 
celebrated medal-engraver Cristoforo Geremia of Mantua, 
described in the payment order as a "familiar of the Pope," 
and, indeed, sufficiently esteemed by the latter to be given 
rooms in the Vatican. 3 It was the successor of Paul II., Pope 

of Pope Sixtus IV., by an anonymous writer that Muratori thinks to have been 
Platina. Muratori, R. Italic Script., III 2 . 1064. _ Miintz, The^ Arts at the 
Court of the Pofies, III. 177, quotes on the authority of Albertini an inscription 
which seems to be the transcription of this passage: " Syxtus I I II Pont. Max. 
equum hunc aenewn vetustate quassatwn collabentem cum assessore restituit " ; 
and he is astonished that Forcella does not mention it. The reason is, perhaps, that 
he gave no credence to Albertini. The latter composed, in 1509, his minor work of 
the De Mirabilibus (ed. of 1515, fol. 62). 

1 Courajod, art. quoted ; Gio. Batta. De Rossi and Giuseppe Gatti, in the Bull. 
Arch. Com., an. 1886, p. 348. The inscription on the socle of this reproduction 
states that the statue is the one of the Emperor Constantine. It is well known that the 
father and the son were very like each other ; and scholars of the time of Eugenius IV. 
may have allowed themselves to be deceived by their incomplete iconographic 
knowledge. In a song composed in 1467, to celebrate the transfer of the porphyry 
urn containing the remains of St. Constantia from the mausoleum in which they 
lay, in the Via Nomentana, to the palace that Paul II. had just had built on St. 
Mark's Square, it is said : 

Comi7iodus ct sonifies hostilia vulnera fiassi 
Po7itificis tantum rejiciuntur ofie. 
See the Gazette archeologique, 1885, p. 382, and the Bulletin de la Societe des 
Antiqitaires de France, 1885, p. 275 ; art of M. Courajod. 

2 At least, the text ofOnuphrius, which is in Platina, Historiade Vitis Pontificum, 
Cologne, 1626, p. 331, reads: " Marci ^Aurelij statuam aeneam equestrem humili 
et sordido loco iacentem in area Lateranensi augustiore loco exposuit." Cf. 
Flaminio Vacca, who asserts that the statue was found in a vineyard near the Scala 
Santa ; Memorie, n. XVII. Cf. Fea, ofi. cit., p. 414, and, by the same author, 
Discorso intorno alle belle Arti, Rome, 1797, p. xi, and Nuova Descrizione . . . 
Rome, 1818, p. 183. 

3 In the margin: '"''Pro restauratione equi aerei S. Jo. Lateranensis." In the 
text: "Marcus etc., honorabili viro Andree Blasij etc., solvatis honl. viro 
Cristoforo de Gieremiis de Mantua Ssmi. D. N. fifi. familiari Jl. au. de Cam. 
trecentos firo fiarte solutionis ejus labo7-erii et aliarum expe>isaru77i firo 
restauratione equi e7~ei siti in platea sancti Johannis Late7'anensis ofiortunaru)7i, 



STATUE OF MARCUS AURELIUS 



139 



Sixtus IV., who completed the work. He had recourse to 
goldsmiths, and had to pay them important sums. A new 
pedestal was also made for the statue. The Pope wished it to 
be of marble. 1 

A picture has preserved for us the appearance of this statue, 
after its restoration. It is that ______________ 

which the artist Filippo Lippi 
painted, in i486, in the chapel I 
of St. Thomas Aquinas, belong- 
ing to the Minerva church, 
and which gives a view of the 
Lateran of that epoch. 2 

A statue so famous and so 
beautiful, and whose fate was 
so closely connected with the 
history of Rome, might claim 
its place in the Capitol. This, 
undoubtedly, was why Michael 
Angelo chose it as the central 
subject of the new decoration 
he had conceived, and why 
also, in that respect, his plan 
was executed without delay. 

Nevertheless, the Lateran 
Chapter did their best not to 
lose their treasure. Having 
met a first time on the 28th 
of November, 1537, they ap- 
pointed delegates who were to 
go and beg the Pope not to sanction the removal of the 
statue : 3 these delegates were not received. Then the Chapter 

quos etc. Dat. Rome apud Sanctum Marctuu sub signeti nostri impressione die 
XXV Junij MCCCCLXVIII. Pontif. SS. D. N. Pauli div. prov. pp. II, anno 
quarto." (Archiv. di Stato, Mandati Cam. Urbis, 1464-73, fol. 66.) 

1 " Solvatis ho. vir. Magistro Nardo Corbolini et Leo7iardo Guidocci ci. ro. 
aurifabris quibus data est cura sarciendi cquicm enetim Constantini antepalathau 
Lateranense existentem ft. au. de cam. C in. deductionem mercedis ipsis promisse 
pro Mo opere" (3 July, 1473). — On the nth of Dec, 1473, another payment of 200 
ducats pro refectione equi Constantini. On the 24th of April, 1474, payment of 100 
ducats. On the 15th of Nov., as balance, payment of 200 ducats. On the 24th of 
Dec. of the same year 1474, payment of 75 ducats to a stonemason "pro parte operis 
quod facturus est in basi novi marmorea equi Constantini." Bullettino dell' 
Instituto di Corresp. Arch., an. 1867, p. 189, art. of A. von. Zahn ; E. Miintz, The 
Arts at the Court of the Popes, 1879-1882, III. 176. Documents extracted from 
the Archiv. Seg. Vat., Div. Camer., vol. 38, fol. 103, 126, 194, 200. It was probably 
after this work that the inscription quoted by Albertini was put on the pedestal. 
Cf art. of A. von Zahn, Bull. delV Inst. Archeol., 186, p. 189. 

2 Masetti, Notizie delta chiesa Minerva, p. 35. 

3 "Qui exorent suam S. ne equus aeneus videlicet M. Aurelius Antoninus e 
filatea Lateran. amoveatur" Vincenzo Tizzoni, La Statua equestre di Marco 
Aurelio, p. 34. 




FIG. 27. — STATUE OF MARCUS 
AURELIUS IN FRONT OF 
THE LATERAN. (FRESCO OF 
FILIPPO LIPPI, CHURCH OF 
MINERVA.) 



140 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

met again on the 9th of January, 1538, all the more alarmed 
as the material required for the transport of the group had just 
been brought to the spot. They renewed their protest, with 
still more emphasis but equal lack of success. 1 The statue was 
taken away, and was transferred to the site it now occupies. 

The Communal Council bore part of the expense incurred, .as 
was only just (1538). 2 

In order to find a pedestal for this colossal group, one of the 
most massive blocks of stone that was contained in Trajan's 
forum had to be extracted from it. 3 

Some restoration of the statue was effected in 1836, under 
the direction of Thorwaldsen and Valadier, with the aid of the 
founder, Giuseppe Spagna. 4 

The horse of Constantine had its special guardian. Mention 
is made of him in Muziano's Commentary of the sixteenth 
century. In 161 5, the Conservators appointed as life-guardians 
Ascanio Pirotti and his son, the preceding guardian having 
renounced all his rights and emoluments. 5 

Raphael and Donatello are said to have been inspired by this 
group, in which the horseman's fine bearing allowed them to 
overlook the lack of unity in the animal's movements. The one 
utilised it for the fiery palfrey mounted by his Gattamelata of 
Padua ; the other modelled from it the milder nag that carries 
the Pope St. Leo, in the Vatican fresco. 6 

The Completion of the Square. 

Before proceeding with the execution of Michael Angelo's 
design, measures had to be taken to prevent the palace from 
falling in. The rooms used for dispensing justice were so little 

1 The Chapter had succeeded, in 1498, in preventing a first attempt at its removal. 
On the 28th of Oct., they had delegated four of their members to go to the Cardinal 
of Lisbon (Giorgio Costa), the Cardinal of S. Croce, the Conservators, and the 
caporioni, and "deplore the compulsory flight of the horse and the statue of Con- 
stantine " ; " ut deplorent fugam coactam Equi ct statuam . . . Constantinianam 
et supplicare dignentur intercedere ap. S. D. N. uti retineat." 1 Vincenzo Tizzoni, 
La Statua equestre di Marco Aurelio, p. 34. 

2 Deliberation dated the 22nd of March, 1538. " Quod dicta sum m a (the amount 
is not indicated) erogari debeat in refoi'7iiatione statue M. Antonii in platea 
Caj>itolii secundum judicium Mickaelis Angeli sculptor -is." (Archiv. Stor. Capit. , 
Cred. I. vol. 36, fol. 379.) The reference is to fines inflicted on the inhabitants of 
Cori. (R. Lanciani, Destruction of Ancient Rome, p. 231.) 

3 Vacca, Memorie, II. 18. Martinelli, Roma ricercata, p. 78, says the pedestal 
came from Trajan's Thermae. An inscription was engraved on it (Forcella, I. n. 44). 

4 Diario di Roma, 1836, n. 26. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XI. vol 19, fol. 68. For general information as to the 
history of this statue, reference may be had to Vincenzo Tizzoni, La Statua di 
Marco Aurelio descritta ed illustrata, with engravings, anonymous, Rome, 1838, 
which is in the Casanatense Library, Miscell., 8vo, vol. 963, 2, 

6 Fea, p. 183, and Maurice Paleologue, Rome, Paris, 1903^.42. Marcus Aurelius 
is similarly represented in the bass-reliefs mentioned on p. 202. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE SQUARE 141 

habitable that one magistrate, who had been called from Foligno 
to fill the high office of first assessor to the Senator, refused to 
sit, having previously sent his son to inspect the premises. 
The Council, in consequence, were compelled to undertake the 
work of restoration (T542). 1 But the pecuniary resources of the 
Communal treasury were hardly sufficient to keep things in 
repair. In 1537, the proceeds accruing from the sale of various 
offices, which amounted to fifteen hundred crowns, had, as a 
matter of necessity, been exclusively applied to this task, the 
losers being the pensioners of the City, ftorzionari, who usually 
received a sum of a thousand crowns out of these funds. 
A few Councillors protested ; but there was no alternative. 2 

In 1 541, the Council authorised the Conservators to sell eight 
claims on the Bologna official pawn-establishment, for seven hun- 
dred and fifty crowns, which were devoted to repairing expenses. 

Obliged, through want of funds, to limit their operations, the 
Communal Council contented themselves, for the time being, 
with carrying out only that part of Michael Angelo's design 
which dealt with the embellishment of the Square. Giacomo 
della Porta 3 was the architect chosen for the task. The 
Council did their utmost to second him, and regularly appointed 
commissaries to superintend and hasten the progress of the 
work. 4 Moreover, whenever the Councillors made any difficulties 
about giving funds, the Holy See interfered and forced their 
hand. Thus, in 1543, the Conservators received the order, 

1 Council meeting of July 8, 1542. Cred. I. vol. 17, fol. 84. 

2 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 17, fol. 46, 47. Sitting of 23 Oct., 1537. And 
Archiv. di Stato, Mand. Cam. 1537-1541, fol. 34, 15 Sept., 1537 : " Solvatis Sc. 
V et Julios 8 a Maestro Benedetto de Pisisfabro lignario pro refiaratione fialatii 
Capitolii decommissione Dni. Cesaris de Nobilibus, preteriti Senatoris, in cubiculo 
quod habitat. D. Franciscus de Sessa Notarius Maleficiorwji." 1 Other payment 
orders of little importance follow. " M r0 Jacobo bononien. ; muratori scut, auri 
triginta sex et bo/.. 93! de Jul. X pro quolibet scuto pro residuo sui laborerii et pro 
tot operibtis factis in reparatione palatii senattis vestri capitolini, 23 Feb., 1537." 
Payment order addressed to the Magnifico domino ahne Urbis senatori. On the 
20th of March following, payment of another sum of 36 crowns 98^ bol. for the 
same purpose. (Mand. Camerali, 1534-1557, quoted by Miintz, The Antiquities, 
p. 154.) Sitting of 22 Sept., 1537. It was decided that the proceeds of the sale of 
every office should be devoted, for a whole year, to the improvement of the Capitol. 
Sitting of the 23rd of October. The Magistri Viarian offered to make a gift of all 
the Tiburtine stone blocks they had at their disposal. Sitting of the 26th of Oct. 
Marius Macaonius was elected clerk of the works at a salary of fifteen crowns a 
month. Mutio Muto announced that he had collected many fines in the Cori district 
(depending on the Commune of Rome) ; fifty crowns remained to be paid. The total 
sum would then amount to 240 crowns, which would be spent on the Capitol. May, 
1538. Several offices remaining to be sold, and several bidders coming forward, it 
was decided that the offices should be put up to auction, and the proceeds devoted 
to carrying on the work, with the people's consent. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 36, fol. 360-379, and vol. 17, fol. 50. 

3 Giacomo della Porta, born in 1530, died in 1590, was a pupil of Vignola. About 
this time, he built the churches of S. Louis of the French and S. Maria de Monte. 
He finished the cupola of St. Peter's with the help of Fontana. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 17, fol. 76, vol. 36, fol. 409 and 430; for the 
year 1555, fol. 802. 



142 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

under threat of the severest penalties, to pay over to the 
magistri stratarwn, entrusted with the repairing of roads, the 
sum of six hundred crowns, deducted from the wine duties, in 
view of the construction of the Via Capitolina, which should 
give access to the Capitol. 1 

Already, some time before, the various expropriations 
necessary had begun, if not the constructive work properly 
so called. In 1480, a sum of one hundred and twenty ducats 
was paid to Giovanni Pietro de Spiritibus as compensation for 
his house, which it had been necessary to pull down. 2 In 
the pontificate of Paul III., the levelling of a mound was 
undertaken, the soil of which was thrown on to the slope of the 
hill facing the Aracoeli square, so that the houses on that 
side were almost buried, and suffered serious damage. As 
compensation, each owner had to be paid two hundred crowns. 3 
Elsewhere, the fagade of the Muzio de Mettis palace was 
demolished, to make room for a suitable issue of the descent on 
the Via Torre dei Specchi} The house was subsequently 
pulled down altogether. 5 

The building of the great stairs, designed to give access to 
the Square of the Capitol, was the object of great competition. 
Numerous architects had sent in plans. Two were selected 
from them, those of Martino Lunghi and Giacomo della Porta. 
The latter's design had the advantage, said the judge of the 
competition, of arranging for the concealment of certain places 
less deserving of prominence on the Capitoline Mount, and of 
being so cleverly combined that the obliquity of the staircase 
would not be perceived. 6 The levelling of the Square was next 
proceeded with again (1577). 7 

1 " Mandatum Conservatoribus quod solvifaciant Magistris stratai-um Urbissc. 
600." {Arch. Seg. Vat., Div. Carrier., V. 139, fol. 63.) The S. Maria bridge or 
Ponte Rotto had been much damaged at the time of the overflowing of the Tiber in 
1530 (Oct.). In 1557, it was again partially carried away : at present, there remains 
only one arch, strengthened in 1575 by Gregory XIII. See M. Carcani, // Tevere 
e le sue inondazione, Rome, 1875. 

2 Arch. Seg. Vat., Div. Cam., vol. 47, fol. 117. " Assigna7nentum pro Johanne 
Petro de Spiritibus." 

3 " Supplica di Michele Marzocco ai Conservatore del 29 gber, 1583." Archiv. 
Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 20. 

4 Petition of Muzio to obtain the compensation promised him. Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 15, an. 1587. 

5 The credit was voted, Oct. 15, 1561, by 84 to 13. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 21, fol. 125 and 120. 

6 Undated letter to the Conservators by Paulo del Bufalo, deputed for the 
construction of the staircase. (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. • VI. vol. 61, fol. 24.) 
" Con la tondezza sua leva quelli pisciatori e conigliere chesono di quae di la dalla 
presente scala, si vede dalla piazza degli Altieri (at present del Gesu), et con la 
tondezza non apparisce che la scala non sia in squadro, et per molte altre ragioni 
che empierebbero ilfoglio. ..." The People's Gate is likewise due to the co-operation 
of Michael Angelo and Giacomo della Porta. See Burckhardt, II. 243. 

7 Council meeting of the 27th of November, 1577. " De platea capitolina 



THE COMPLETION OF THE SQUARE 143 



At the same time, measures were taken to complete its 
decoration. Paul III. (1533-1550) had commissioned Vignola 
to build the por- 
tico and repair 
the steps leading 
to the Aracoeli 
church; 1 and Julius 

III. (1550-1555) 
had the other por- 
tico built, and steps 
to match on the 
side facing Mount 
Caprino. 2 Pius IV. 
pursued the com- 
pletion of the 
double balustrade 
bordering the 
Square, on the side 
from which it com- 
mands the City ; 
and was responsi- 
ble for the placing, 
on either hand of 
the entrance to the 
great staircase, of 
the two lions or 
sphinxes of basalt 
found near the 
church of S. Maria 
sopra Minerva. 3 

The Councillors 
were compelled to 
impose fresh sacri- 
fices on the City. 
In 1 561, Pope Pius 
IV. gave them per- 
emptory orders to deduct twelve hundred crowns from the 

defirimenda." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 164. Meeting of 26 Aug., 
1578. " Super filatect Capitolina deprimenda." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 27, fol. 209. 

1 Montagnani, II Museo Capitolino, I. 37. Above the arcades of the portico, 
in the spaces between the columns, Pope Julius III. had his coat of arms engraven, 
the three Mounts, as Paul III. had had his engraven on the opposite portico. 

2 Lanciani, article on the Monte Tarpeio, in the Bull, della Coin. Archeol. 
Com., XXIX. an. 1901, p. 268. Cf. Cod. Vat. Ottob., 3152, fol. 220. The two 
sphinxes have been replaced by reproductions, and put inside the new palace 
(courtyard), n. 2, 3, in 1885. Fam. Vacca, n. 27 ; Fea, p. 180 ; Montagnani, II. 88. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 21, fol. 125. 




FIG. 28. — VIGNOLA'S PORTICO. STEPS LEAD- 
ING TO THE CHURCH OF S. MARIA 
ARACOELI. 



144 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

wine duties, half of which was to be paid to the maestri di 
strada, in order that they might compensate the owners of the 
houses that had been pulled down, on the Aracoeli Square ; 
the other half was to be devoted to completing this Square. 
The Councillors yielded, not without protesting that the duties 
in question belonged to the people, and were the people's 
"property" (13th of October, 156T). 1 

This concession cost them dearer than they had imagined ; 
for the Pope, coming, some short time after, to ascertain for 
himself what progress was being made in the work, with the 
money supplied, happened to notice that the roof of the 
Senatorial palace was in such a wretched state that the rain 
entered through it. The audience-chambers were unfit for 
occupation, doubtless because the repairs, resolved on in 1542, 
had not been effected. He, consequently, imposed a fresh 
charge of between eight hundred and a thousand crowns, 
according to requirements, for the necessary work to be done. 2 
This sum was to be taken, as usual, from the wine duties, other- 
wise called gabella dcllo studio? 

Compensations became more frequent. Luzio Boccabella 
obtained two hundred crowns, in order to bring into line with 
the others the house he owned on the Capitol, no doubt along 
the road leading to it. 4 Expropriations, indeed, continued till 
the end of the century. In 1595, a thousand crowns had to be 
paid to Tommaso Filippucci, as the price of several houses 
demolished, to allow of the widening of the Via Capitolina, or 
rather the Strada di Campidoglio, as it began to be called from 
that time in official documents. The amount of the indemnity 
was to be charged on the dues collected at the Latin Gate. 5 

The divers corporations that possessed a hall for their consular 
tribunals at the Capitol contributed to the expense. Now and 
again, the pontifical authority intervened to exonerate them 
from this burden ; as, for instance, in 1 564, when the painters' 
guild pleaded poverty, and the goldsmiths' guild claimed 
exemption as having no tribunal at the Capitol. 7 Although 
having no business in the Capitol, the Jewish community also 

1 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 21, fol. 133. 

2 The name gabella dello studio was given to the tax on foreign wines, because a 
portion of what it yielded was devoted to the payment of professors at the 
University. 

8 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 21, fol. 197. 

4 The work had been begun in 1538 ; expropriations took place then. Archiv. di 
State, Atti. Stef. de Amannis, Prot., 96, fol. 301. 
■ 6 Arch, di Stato, Mand. Camer., 1594-1596, fol. 71. 

( > Inhibited in Curia pro Consule et Universitaie j>ictorutn Urbis. Dat. Rome 
in Cain. A/>. Die 19 Afartij, 1564. G. As. Card. Cam. 

7 Inhibit 'io in Curia pro Consnlibus aurijiciim. Pat. Rome in Cam. A/>. Pie 
2S Augusti, 1564. G. Asc. Card. Camerarius. {Arch. S. Vat., Div. Camer., 
Vol. 217, fol. 15, T9. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE SQUARE 



'45 



paid their share, which must have been considerable, since an 
instalment of a hundred crowns was only a fraction of their 
contributions. 1 

In [583, Gregory XIII. gave instructions which led to the 
placing on the balustrade of the Square, to the right and 
the left of the staircase, of the two groups of the Dioscuri, 




FIG. 



29. — VIGNOLA S PORTICO. STEPS LEADING TO THE MONTE 
TARPEIO. 



which had been found near the Ghetto, under the pontificate 
of Pope Pius IV., some twenty years before, and had been 
restored by Valsoldi. 2 

The balustrade bordering the Square, on the side opposite the 

1 Signijicatio. G. Asc. Camerarius. Dai. Rome in Cam. A/>. Die XVI. lo&rz's, 
1540. Asc. Card. Camerarius. (//>ia'., vol. 119, fol. 36.) 

2 Montagnani, Mirabili, Pietro Paolo, // Museo Cafiitoliiio, Rome, 1828 ; 
Vacca, 11. 52; Michaelis, pp. 33, 44. They were found at the spot where the new 
synagogue was being built. Inscriptions were put on the pedestals Supporting them : 
Forcella, 1. n. 78, n. 251, n. 105. 



146 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Senatorial palace, was completed about 1592. 1 Thither had 
been brought, in 1 590, the trophies, said to be those of Marius, 
which still figure there, to the right and the left of the groups 
of Castor and Pollux. 2 They had been taken from the " Castle 
of the Acqua Marcia," as well as other ornaments, so that nothing 
else remained, except some vestiges of the foundations, which the 
Marquis Orazio Savelli, who owned a neighbouring villa on the 
Esquilian, called Palombara, 3 asked permission to remove. 4 
Two commissaries were appointed, as was usual in such cases, to 
examine the request. 5 

At the end of the balustrade, on the right, stood the mile- 
stone which once marked the first mile on the Appian Way, 
where it had been discovered in 1583. Another milestone, which 
had been found further on, serves to match it at the opposite 
end of the balustrade. A bronze ball surmounted it ; and 
tradition asserted that it was the one which the statue of the 
Emperor Trajan, placed at the top of his column, held in his 
hand. It was believed to contain his ashes. 6 At present, there 
are no balls on either of the columns. 7 

The two statues of Constantine and his son Constans, which 
are visible between the trophies and the columns, were not set 
in this place until 1653. They had previously stood on the steps 
leading from the Square of the Capitol to the church of S. Maria 
Aracoeli. 8 The base of the Emperor's statue still exists with 
his name engraven on one of the sides. The third statue, 
representing the second son of Constantine, which was first of 
all placed in the Museum, was, as will be seen, subsequently 
sent to the Lateran. 9 

The obelisk still existed in 1566; but it had been brought 
nearer to the Square. 10 Then it was overthrown. " Super 
coemeterio iacet obeliscus aegyptius hieroglyphis insignitus" n 
This, no doubt, was why the Communal Council resolved to 

1 This balustrade had been begun under Gregory XIII. (1572-1585). 

2 The inscription placed under the trophies is found in Forcella, I. n. 90. 

3 Cancellieri, II Discobolo, p. 42. 

4 Sitting of the 19th of Sept., 1592. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 90. 

5 Sitting of the 22nd of Sept., 1592. Ibid., fol. 52. 

6 Vasi, I. 53. Seep. 204 and Michaelis, Coll. Capit., note 184. Cf. H. Dessau, 
Into7'no la Colona Milliaria del Camfiidoglio, Rome, 1882. 

7 Inscriptions were placed on the base of the first column. Forcella, I. n. 81, 
n. 82. 

8 Sitting of the Communal Council of the 23rd June, 1653. There were 28 crowns 
paid for the work. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. I. fol. 138. Inscriptions 
placed on the socles of the statues: Forcella, I. n. 102, n. 150. See further, p. 214. 

9 See p. 214. 

10 " Obeliscum circa Aracoeli monasterium ad ornandumfilateamtranstulerunt 
jusso suo" (of Pope Paul III.). Silvagio, De trib. Pereg., p. 306. Cf. L. Mauro, 
p. 8. The entrance to the monastery was altered about this time. Camillo Re, 
p. 114. 

11 Boissard, I. 46 ; Michaelis, p. 31. Below the church was a small cemetery. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE SQUARE 147 

hand it over to Ciriaco Mattei, who asked for it 1 and transported 
it to his villa, the Mattei Villa, situated on the Caelian hill. 2 The 
marble pillars which were also found in the neighbourhood, and 




FIG. 30. — THE DIOSCURI. CEREMONY OF THE BLESSING OF THE 

BAMBINO. 



which appear in Heemskerck^s reproductions, were successively 
given either to the church of S. Maria dei Monti, which the 

1 Sitting of the nth of Sept., 1582. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 28, fol. 118 ; 
cf. fol. 120. 

2 Cancellieri, II Mercato, p. 164 ; C. Maes, Curiosita romane, 1885, I. 89. 

L 2 



148 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Pope was having built in the Monti quarter, 1 or to the 
Consolation hospital. 2 

In 1592, it was decided that the new road having its issue in 
the Square, the strada Capitolina, should be paved, at the 
expense of the owners of property on the river-bank and of the 
people. 3 

The triangular space between the two staircases, that of the 
Aracoeli and that of the Capitol, remained for a long time a sort 
of rubbish heap, as in the days of Giacomo della Porta. It was 
transformed into a garden only in 18 18, 4 and w r as, at a posterior 
date, adorned with a poor statue of Cola di Rienzo by Mazini 
and a cage containing a she-wolf. 

To-day, a carriage-road, constructed in the pontificate of Pope 
Innocent XII. (1691-1700), leads, with four windings, to the 
Square of the Capitol. It bears the name of the Via delle Tre 
Pile^ on account of the three " Pignates " that figured in this 
Pope's coat of arms, 5 and which are seen on a pillar at the 
second turn in the road. 



Completion of the two Palaces. 

About 1560, owing to the energy and efforts of Boccapaduli, 6 
one of the members of the Council, a beginning was made 
towards the realisation of Michael Angelo's plan as regarded 

1 Communal Council meeting of the ist of March, 1582. " Be columnis 
marmoreis in plate a Capit olina existentibus Ecclesiae B. Mariae in Regione 
Mo7itium gratis concessis pro ornamento porte ipsius Ecclesiae." Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 28, fol. 103. The first stone of this church was laid, on the 
23rd of June, 1580, by Cardinal Sirleto. Armellini. Le Chiese di Roina, p. 205. 

2 Sitting of the 27th Aug., 1584. Ibid., fol. 241. 

3 Sitting of the 15th of Oct., 1592. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30. fol. 55. 
In 1595, the Council obtained, by pledging the dues collected at the Latin Gate and 
St. Sebastian's Gate, the sum of a thousand ducats, which they needed, in order to 
expropriate Tommaso Filipucci, the owner of some houses whose demolition was 
required for widening the road. Archiv. di Stato, Mand. Camer., 1594-1596, 
fol. 74. 

4 Not hie del Giorno, 8 April, 181 8. 

5 The Pot or Pignate is an heraldic figure representing a ewer of small size, with 
a handle at the side. 

6 Bicci, Notizie particolari della Famiglia Boccapaduli, Rome, 1762. Prospero 
Boccapaduli had been engaged in the work at the Capitol since 1555 ; but only in 
1564 did he beco.ne the official superintendent. In the following year, the Pope 
appointed him Governor of Ravenna ; but he remained only a short time in this 
post ; and came back to Rome, to take up his task again there (Bicci, pp. 114, 129). 
Thus, the following inscription was subsequently put in the palace: "S.P.Q.R. 
MAIORVM SVORVM PRAESTANTIAE VI ANIMO SIC RE QVAMTVM 
LICVIT IMITATVS DEFORMATVM INIVRIATEMPORVM CAPITOLIVM 
RESTITVIT, PROSPERO BVCCAPADVLIO, THOMA CAVALERIO 
CVRATORIBVS, ANNO POST VRBEM CONDITAM CXo CXo CCCXX." 
Forcella gives the same text, I. n. 64. This inscription is found at the entrance to the 
palace of the Conservators ; close" to it was placed another, which is, so to speak, the 
counterpart. Forcella, I. n. 65. Cf. Bicci p. 132, and Travels of a Frenchman 
in Italy (in French), IV. 248. 



COMPLETION OF THE TWO PALACES 149 

the Senatorial palace and that of the Conservators. 1 From the 
year 1563, the payments made by the Communal treasury were 
already so important that Pope Pius IV. had to let the Communal 
Council take three thousand crowns from the wine-tax for the 
building of the palace of the Conservators, and eight hundred 
from it for the building of the Senatorial palace. 2 In order that 
Michael Angelo's indications might be followed concerning the 
statues that were to ornament the roof of the palace, as well as 
for other reasons which will be seen, Pope Pius V. presented the 
Council with more than thirty statues chosen from among those 
that his predecessor, Pius IV., had collected in the Vatican. 3 
Gregory XIII., who had filled the office of first assessor at the 
Capitol, showed much zeal in the work. In 1573, the loggia of 
the palace of the Conservators was decorated with a marble 
tablet covered with bass-reliefs. It came from the Sciarra palace, 
and a hundred crowns had been exacted for the right to take it 
out of the wall in which it was set. 4 

The impetus given to the work on the Capitoline palaces may 
be explained, as has already been hinted, by a political reason. 
The "Communal Council were acquiring more and more influence 
in the municipal organisation of the City. They held regular 
sittings, and intervened in all municipal matters. Just at that 
time,, they had entered on a struggle with the Holy See, 
regarding the self-government of the City. They were, con- 
sequently, interested in asserting their authority by getting 
themselves an imposing edifice for their deliberations. 

The value of the work accomplished between September, 1575, 
and January, 1576, that is, in five months, amounted to 1,768 
crowns. An architrave in travertine was put round the gate 
leading to the prisons, a mask over a door, a boarded floor in 
the new room of the first assessor. There was carpentry 
and masonry : and both outside and inside, therefore, great 
activity was being manifested in the work. 5 Yet in 1577, Pope 
Gregory XIII. exempted the Senator in office, Galeazzo Poggio, 
from the deduction effected in his salary, according to the 
statutes, for the keeping of the palace in order. 6 The 
Councillors were obliged to impose sacrifices on themselves, 

1 The transformation was especially on the outside. The arrangement of the 
rooms remained almost the same, since the frescoes, painted in the early part of the 
century by Rimpata, are still in existence. See p. 155. 

' 2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 21, fol. 227, Feb. 26th, 1563. 

y However, they were some of them placed inside, in the Museum then in process 
of formation. See chapter dealing with the Museums. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred, I. vol. 38, fol. 456. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 26 sqq. 

6 Brief dated the 23rd of Feb., 1577. Arch. Seg, Vat., Arm. XLII. vol. 29, n. 46. 
It abrogated article 5 of the first book of the statutes of 1523, which renewed a 
previous prescription. 



150 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Those who arrived late at the meeting had a fine inflicted on 
them ; and the amount of all such fines was devoted to the 
restoration of the Capitol. Similarly, the proceeds of fines 
inflicted by the Capitoline judges, and those exacted from 
magistrates that neglected to be present at religious ceremonies, 
were ordered to be applied, partly to the expenses incurred on 
the palace and partly to charitable purposes. 1 

Every week, the Commissaries came and reported to the 
Council on the progress of the work, which was still being 
pushed on. 2 In 1577, more than seven thousand crowns were 
spent. The Council grew alarmed. They believed that they were 
being deceived. To the two architects entrusted with the 
oversight of the new constructions, Giacomo della Porta and 
Martino Lunghi, they added a third, Annibale Lippi, who was 
commissioned to examine, in conjunction with the first two, the 
accounts of the builder, who, on his side, appealed for the inter- 
ference of the consuls of his art, the art of those that hewed stone. 3 

During the following years, the chief thing aimed at by the 
Council was the transformation of the bell-tower. Michael 
Angelo's design had made it somewhat small in height. 
They raised it to three stories. 4 On the 23rd of July, 1578, the 
scribe of the Senate posted up a notice informing the builders 
of the City that he had in his possession the plans of the 
architect Martino Lunghi, whose design had appeared preferable 
to those of the other competitors ; and he invited them to come 
and see the plans with a view to making tenders. 5 Operations 
were forthwith commenced; and they continued till 1580. At 
that date, the Council were at a loss to know how to find money 
for completing the undertaking. According to their custom, they 
appointed two commissaries to get them out of their difficulty. 6 
The name of Pope Gregory XIII. was engraven at the top of the 
bell-tower, on its four sides, where it is still visible. 

1 Decision of the Communal Council, dated May 24th, 1570, confirmed by the 
statutes of 1580, article 4 of Bk. III. In general, the proceeds of the fines were 
devoted to some work interesting the judges that had to judge the offence 
committed. Here is an example: "Rev. D. Ascanio Parisano Epo. Ari- 
7iiinensi D. M. Thesaurario . . . Mandamus quatenus per manus Dni. Ansaldi 
de Grimaldis . . . de pecuniis penarum inaleficiorum curie Capitolii numeres 
magistro Benedicto de Pisis fabro lignario scutos qziinque, et julios octo ei debit os 
Pro opere per eum impenso in reparatione Palatii Capitoliide co7nmissione Caesar is 
de Nobilibus praeteriti Urbis Senatoris in cubiculo quod habitat Franciscus de 
Sessa Notarius Maleficiorum. Die XV gbris 1537." Archiv. di Stato, Mand. 
Camer., i537- I 54 I ? fol. 34. 

2 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 35. _ 

3 Ibid., fol. 46, 52, 104. The registers do not indicate what was the issue of this 
affair. 

4 Resolution of the Council tending to the reconstruction of the Tower. Arch. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 181. 

5 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 144. Dimensions of the notice: 
o m. 30 c. by o m. 20 c. See Cancellieri, Le due Campane, p. 43, 

6 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol- 28, fol. 17. 



COMPLETION OF THE TWO PALACES 



151 



To commemorate the construction of this campanile, three 
types of medals were struck by order of the Roman people, 
which were intended 
for the reigning Pope, 
Gregory XIII. On 
the first, which shows 
the front also, the 
bell-tower has only 
two stories ; no bell is 
visible, and a single 
statue is placed at the 
top. The second and 
third are different 
only by the legend ; 
the one reproduced 
bears on the exergue : 
"S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO. 
PRINCIPI " ; and 
across: "ANN.DNI. 
MDLXXIX." The last 
words are wanting on 
the other type. Both, 
however, show an ima- 
ginary bell-tower, four 
stories high, two of 
which are, perhaps, 
the front to the right 
of the bell- tower. In 
the aperture of the two 
top stories, bells are 
visible. At the sum- 
mit are four statues. 1 
The reverse of the 
three medals is the 
same : Gregory XIII. 
in the act of blessing. 

At the same time, 
the construction of the 
double stairs was pro- 
ceeded with, which 
were to give access to the audience-chambers 




31. — MEDAL STRUCK TO COMME- 
MORATE THE ERECTION OF THE 
CAMPANILE OR BELL-TOWER. 



This work was 

1 Ph. Bonnani, Nnmismata Pontijicum, Rome, 1689, I. 350, speaks of these 
medals, which he has figured under the numbers 43, 45, 46. It would seem that 
there was never more than one statue at the top of the tower, although in the Cod. 
Vat. Urb. 1053, under date of the 24th of Aug., 1585, we read that PopeSixtus V. 
had the statues taken away " that ornamented the top of the campanile, since it did 
not seem proper to him that these idolatrous representations should be placed above 
the bells." 



152 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

completed in 1582. The Conservators then in office placed 
in the niche that had been built at the foot a statue of Minerva 
which was taken from the courtyard of their palace. An 
inscription recorded this event. It read : 

S. P. Q. R. 

SIGNVM MINERVE DE PARIETIMIS VRBIS ERVTVM ET IN 

CAPITOLIVM PAVLO III P. M. TRANSLATVM IN ILLVSTRIORE 

AREAE LOCO GREGORIO (sic) XIII P. M. POSVIT ET RESTTTVIT. 

CVRANTIBVS 

OCT. GVIDOCTO, JO. BAPTA. ALTOVITO, OCT. PARTICAPPA, CONSS. 

ALFONSO AVILA PRIORE CAP. REG.l 

The Conservators who succeeded these in office tried to 
remove the statue, because their names were not in the inscrip- 
tion. The question was submitted to the Pope, who decided 
that the statue should remain in its place. 2 In 1595, a smaller 
statue replaced the Minerva. It likewise represented Minerva, 
but was given the name of Rome. It is composed of red basalt. 3 
Its state of preservation could not have been very good ; for, in 
1653, one of its arms had to be repaired, and two fingers on one 
hand had to be renovated. Later, the nose and the other arm 
had to be renovated ; 4 then, almost the whole of the body. 5 
The following inscription may be read below it : 

S. P. Q. R. 

VRBIS ROM^ SIMVLACRVM 

PVBLICA PECVNIA REDEMPTVM 

IN CAPITOLIVM TRANSTVLIT 

ATQ. LOCO ILLVSTRIORE COLLOCATVM 

CLEMENTE VIII P. M. 

GABRIELLE C^ESARINO 

JACOBO RVBEO 

PAPIRIO ALBERO 

COSS. 

CELSO CELSO CAPITVM REG. PRIORE 6 

It was not until the year 1588 that the decoration of the stair- 
case was completed by the construction of the fountain and 
basin that appear below the statue, between the two representa- 
tions of the river. Sixtus V. had sent the Communal Council 

1 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 18. Forcella, I. 71. See p. 205. 

2 Ibid., fo\. 19. The statue previously bore an inscription recording the name of 
the Bonaventura family, which had possessed it, and that of the Conservators who 
had acquired it for the Roman people. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 28, fol. 
187. Cf. Helbig, I. 292, and Lanciani, Scavi, II. 75. 

3 Michaelis, La Coll. Capit. Bull. Arch. Germ., an. VI. 48. Cf. Fea, p. 205, 
and Tofanelli, p. 104. 

4 On the 23rd July, 1653, to the stone-cutter of the Roman people, Domenico 
Mancini : " Per avere restaurato il braccio della stattia di Roma che sta sofira la 

fontana sotto alle scale del palazzo di Camfiidoglio che era in quattro ftezzi, e 
rifatti due diti alia mano sc. 5:00." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. I. fol. 147. 
As regards the second repairing : " Conto dello Scarpellino Antonio Ferretti. Per 
avere riattaccato un dito ed anche il bastone che tiene in mano alia statua sotto 
lo se alone nobile di Camftidoglio, ed avergli stttccato il naso, sc. 1:10." Ibid., 
13, fol. 399. ... 

5 It was ^again restored in the time of Benedict XIV. See further on, pp, 183 
and 215. P Forcella, Isc, I. n. 96. 



COMPLETION OF THE TWO PALACES 153 



the design drawn by the architect Matteo di Castello. The 
discussion that arose over its adoption became so lively that it 
was decided the mat- 
ter should be referred 
to the public Council. 
On the one hand, 
certain Councillors 
deemed that, before 
erecting a fountain, it 
was advisable to as- 
certain whether water 
could be obtained for 
it. On the other 
hand, there was hesi- 
tation in rejecting a 
proposal emanating 
from the Holy See, 
and plans that the Pope 
had personally ap- 
proved. In the public 
Council, the same per- 
plexity existed. Most 
of those present with- 
drew, when the Senator 
proposed a vote, in 
terms that reserved 
the rights of the pon- 
tifical power. 1 This 
solution softened the 
temper of those who 
opposed the project ; 
and the erection of the 
fountain was voted by 
thirty-five to twenty. 2 

The transformation 
of the Senatorial palace 
was completed un- 
der the pontificate of 
Clement VIII. (1592- 
1605), who had the 
plans of Giacomo della 

l Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 22. Cf. Lanciani, Scavi, II. 74. 

^ Ibid. Water was not laid on till much later. In 1612, Pope Paul V. granted the 
Commune two hundred ounces of water ; and the Council voted a credit of two 
hundred crowns for the conduits. But it was only in 1619 that water was brought to 
the fountain. At that time, the old cistern of the palace of the Conservators was 
demolished, which has been mentioned in speaking of the repairs made to it. Archiv. 
Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, fol. 32 ; Cred. VI. vol. 51, fol. 73. The water was the 
Acqua Felice. Fea, p. 184 ; cf. Lanciani, Scavi, II. 74. 




r if, yy - %, ~ 



V 




FIG. 32.— MEDAL STRUCK TO COMME- 
MORATE THE ERECTION OF THE 
CAMPANILE. 

Porta executed by the architect 



154 . THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Girolamo Rinaldi. The two corner towers were reduced to the 
height of the palace, and were hidden by a decorated fagade 
which united them in one architectural design. The windows 
of the first story, which were too narrow, were widened ; the 
balcony above them was removed ; and the battlements of the 
summit disappeared, and were replaced by a balustrade adorned 
with statues. On the side towards the Aracoeli church, large 
windows were made in the first story. 1 An inscription placed 
on the fagade, the coats of arms of the Pope and * those of the 
Senator Lodovico Area, with the date 1593 engraven on the side 
wall of the palace, recorded these various achievements. 2 At 
the same time, no doubt, was built the high facade, with but 
little character in it, which rises above the Tabularium, on the 
side towards the Forum ; and, also, all that part of the edifice, 
quite distinct from the rest, which is comprised between the 
tower of Boniface IX. and that of Nicholas V. 

The palace of the Conservators was likewise completed under 
the direction of the architect Giovanni del Duca, who kept to 
the plans of Michael Angelo, except in the central window of 
the palace, which he made larger than the others. He has 
been bitterly reproached with this deviation ; and, indeed, it is 
an unfortunate one. It would be, in fact, inexplicable if we did 
not know that the audience-chamber of the Conservators 
received its light through this window, and that, probably, a 
desire to increase its light-giving capacity, and to mark the 
position of the hall from the outside, was the motive that 
induced him to break the unity of the front. 3 

Clement VIII. was ambitious to carry furthur the realisation 
of Michael Angelo's designs, and to build the third palace, which, 
in his intention, was to be the complement of the palace of the 
Conservators. The Communal Council were authorised to 
borrow fifty-five share claims on the State pawn establishment, 
the interest of which would be covered by the gabella dello 
studio (wine-tax), the condition of the authorisation being that 
they should set about the work forthwith. Giovanni Pietro 
Caffarelli and Orazio del Buffalo were appointed Superintendent 
Commissaries, and it was even stipulated that their appointment 
should last as long as the work. 4 

But, in the meanwhile, Clement VIII. died, and the building 
of the new palace was stopped. As yet, only the foundation 
parts had been constructed. 

1 Michaelis, La Coll. Caftit., Bull. Arch. Germ., an. VI., p. 48; Montagnani, 
// Museo Capitol. , p. 40. 

2 Forcella, I. n. 95. 

3 It was the same architect who placed such an outlandish lantern on the 
Sangallo church in Trajan's Square. See Burckhardt, Le Cicerone, II. 246, B. 

4 Arcbiv, Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 31, fol. 99, 101. 



INTERIOR DECORA TION 1 5 5 

It was, as will be seen, Innocent X. who carried the task 
through to its completion. 



Hall and Throne of the Senator. 

Gregory XIII. had entirely restored the Senatorial audience- 
chamber. It was in his day, no doubt, and under the Popes 
succeeding him, that this hall assumed the imposing appearance 
it presents to-day. On the lintel of the marble doors, at each 
end, are engraven, on the one hand, the name of Sixtus V. ; 
on the other, that of Paul V. The pillars ornamenting the 
principal door were half let into the wall. Subsequently, the 
walls had set in them fragments of frescoes found, as it has 
already been said, in the basement portion of the palace, and 
the painting of the Madonna, which previously figured above 
the door of the Senator's chamber. This hall occupies the 
whole length of the front. 1 The Senator's throne, which was 
repaired somewhat later, was a marble seat, placed on an 
estrade, also in marble, with three steps composing it. A 
little lower were two seats for the Conservators. These were of 
marble and were joined by a marble band ; both of them were 
supported by marble pedestals edged with a carved cyma. 
Canopies, borne by marble pillars of the Ionic order, were above 
the seats of the Senator and the Conservators. The tester was 
of wood covered with red damask. 2 



Interior Decoration of the Palace of the 
Conservators. 

Some of the paintings decorating the rooms of the palace of 
the Conservators are anterior to the sixteenth century, which 
proves, as has been mentioned, that the inside arrangement was 
only partially altered at the time of the great changes that have 
been related. 3 When Bembo visited the Capitol, in 1504, he 
was shown, in this palace, several frescoes of Giacomo Ripanda, 
which he admired. 4 They probably represented the " Triumph 

1 Council meeting of July 15th, 1576: " De Sala Senatoribus perficienday 
Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 53. Cf. Montagnani, II Museo Capit., 
t. I, 37, and G. Christ. Adler, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, Altona, 1781, p. 289. 

2 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 27. 

3 For general information see Tofanelli, Agostino, Indicazione delle sculture e 
pitlure . . . 1834, and Fea, p. 228. 

4 " Capit oliuin collem adivimits inibique quae digna notatuviderimus hacc sunt : 
Domtis Conservatory 11 picturis Jacobi Rimpatae opere absolutissimis referta. . . ." 
Muntz, The Antiquities of the City of Rome (in French), p. 34. Cf. the document 
published by R. Lanciani (// Codice Barber iniano), dating bark to the pontificate 



156 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

of a king of Persia " — perhaps that of Cyrus — and the " Firmness 
of Brutus in seeing the heads of his sons cut off" 1 Some 
frescoes are likewise attributed to Benedetto Bonfilii of Perugia, 
who was born in 1420 and died in 1496. 2 

However, the interior decoration of the palace of the 
Conservators was not undertaken, in earnest, till about the end 
of the sixteenth century. In 1588, a contract was signed by 
the painter Tommaso di Marino Laureti, 3 who engaged himself 
to represent on the walls of the second hall, called the hall of 
the Emperors, where the Conservators held their audiences, 
four " great historical scenes," the subject of which was to be 
furnished him by the Conservators themselves. He promised 
also to frame them and to paint, beneath, an imitation bronze 
cornice, together with chiaroscuro ornaments descending to the 
floor. Laureti asked four years to finish his task ; and fixed the 
price of it at two thousand gold crowns. 4 He had also promised 
to undertake all expenses of putting up scaffolding and effecting 
other preparatory work. Now, as his salary was successively 
reduced by the various magistrates and he had to wait for the 
perquisites offered to him, when the contract was signed, as a 
supplement to the price agreed on, he was soon compelled to 
solicit public charity. 5 Indeed, the Communal assembly were 
so accustomed to behave parsimoniously to the artists who were 
led to work for the Roman people, being tempted by the desire 
of glory, that necessity often drove these latter to appeal to the 
people's beneficence, and even to their pity. Such was the 
case of the sculptor Taddeo Landini, who had been commissioned 

ofSixtusV. : " In quest a prima, sala dei Conservatori hanno lasciato,nel renovare, 
quattro quadri defiinti nelle facciate a tempo cCA lessandro VI. che ci son I'armi, 
hora che risarciscono il Campidoglio, ami lo rifanno." Arch, della Soc. Rom. di 
S. Patria, vol. VI. (1883), p. 223 and following. R. Lanciani, II Codice Barberi- 
niano, XXX. 89. 

1 Malvasia, C. Felsina Pittrice, Bologna, 1674, I- 34- According to Siret, 
Dictionary of Painters (in French), p. 204, Ripanda was born in 148c ; he was still " 
in Rome in 1510. Malvasia adds that these frescoes are the only ones remaining of 
all those he painted in the Capitol. Volterrano speaks of him apropos of the designs 
he took of the bass-reliefs on the column of Trajan. Comment ariorum Urbanorum 
Raphaelis (Maffei) Volterrani, Basle, 1530. Anthropologia, Bk. XXI. p. 247. 
" Floret nunc Romae Jacobus Bononiensis, qui Trajani Columnae picturas otnnis 
ordine delineavit, magnaque omnium adiniratione, 7nagnoque periculo circum 
machinis scandendo." Volterrano died in 1522. 

2 Lanciani, Scavi, II. 75. 

3 He had been called from Bologna to Rome by Pope Gregory XIII., who com- 
missioned him to paint Constantine's hall at the Vatican ; this work was accomplished 
only under the pontificate of Sixtus V. He taught perspective at the Academy of 
.St. Luke. The date of his birth is unknown. The only thing certain is that he died 
at the age of eighty, before the commencement of the eighteenth century. Baglione, 
Vile die Pittori, p. 68. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 200. Each magistracy lasted three 
months. 

5 Supplicatio dni, Thomae Laureti pictoris. Archiv, Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. 
vol. 61, fol. 10. 



INTERIOR DECORA TION 



157 



to execute a statue of Sixtus V., and who, on the 16th of June, 
1587, addressed an urgent supplication to the Council. The 
price fixed upon for his statue was thirteen hundred crowns. 1 

In 1592, Laureti had not yet been able to finish his work. 
The Council appointed deputies with a view to their hastening 
him. 2 It was not, however, until three years later, in 1595, that 




FIG. 33.- 



-THE CAPITOLINE PALACES. FROM AN ENGRAVING OF 
THE CABINET OF PRINTS. 



the painter could place them definitely in possession of the 
decorated room. As a reward, he was given three hundred 
crowns. 3 

While this undertaking was going on, in 1593, the Council 
had adopted another, viz., the decoration of the first hall. This 

1 See p. 172. 

2 "... Qui omni conatu curent totam secundam aulam Palatii quam celerrime 
per D. Thomam ftictorem pingi, fierfici et Jiniri" Sitting of the 18th of Dec, 
1592. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 65. 3 Ibid., fol. 163. 



158 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

time they were lavish in precautions. A committee of ten 
members, comprising the two chancellors, was appointed to 
superintend the operations and to make constant reports to 
the assembly, without ever itself deciding anything. 1 The 
result was that nothing was done. Two years after, in 1595, 
they were still seeking for an "exquisite, first-rate, and ex- 
cellent" painter who should be equally acceptable to Conserva- 
tors, caporio7ii, chancellors, and deputies. 2 There was no 
further time to be lost. Joseph or Josephin of Arpino (Giuseppe 
Cesari, called the Chevalier of Arpino) was chosen to do the 
painting of the hall, for the sum of five thousand crowns, and 
with the express stipulation that it should be finished in the 
course of the year 1599. 3 The marble tablets, the inscriptions 
along the walls were to be taken away; as to the plate on 
which was inscribed the prohibition to raise statues to princes 
before their death, it/was to be placed above the entrance door. 4 
In a subsequent meeting, the Council, considering that, " if 
the greatness of Rome was created solely by arms, there had 
never been, on the other hand, a nation more religious or more 
attached to religion," decided that it would be a proper thing 
to represent by the side of deeds of warlike kings, such as 
Romulus and Tullus Hostilius, the introduction of sacerdotal 
rites by King Numa, the appointment of vestal virgins, and 
other matters relating to divine worship. The following were 
the instructions given to the painter as to the division, arrange- 
ment, and parcelling out of his work. In the first picture, 
placed at the further end of the saloon, above the statue of 
Leo X., he should represent the She-Wolf suckling Romulus 
and Remus ; in the second, above the aperture, the foundation 
of Rome ; in the third, the rape of the Sabines ; in the fourth, 
the fight of the Sabines in the Forum, together with the inter- 
vention of Ersilia ; 5 in the fifth, above the statue of Pope 
Sixtus V., the inauguration of public worship by Numa ; in the 
sixth, the fight of the Horatii ; in the seventh, the defeat of 
the Veians and the Fidenates, which secured Rome's greatness ; 
in the eighth, the expulsion of the last king, after the death of 
Lucretius. 6 The Birth of Romulus and the Battle against the 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 74, 76. Sittings of the 6th and nth of 
March, 1595. 

2 Ibid., fol. 117. Sitting of the 3rd of Nov., 1595. 

3 Ibid., fol. 177. The Chevalier of Arpino was born in this town in 1560; he died 
in Rome in 1640. 

4 See the chapters, Honorific Statues, pp. 171 and 188. 

5 Ersilia or Fersilia. ' ' Mulier Sabina quae cum aliis rapta* immo inarito sublata, 
erat enim 7iupta, facta est Romuli uxor, de cujus stirfiefuit Julius, ac post Romuli 
mortem et ipsa Dea est nuncupata nomine Ora vel Mora." Forcellini, Aegidii, 
Totius Latinitatis Lexicon, vol. IX. See Ovid, Met., Book XIV. v. 829-851. 

6 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 186. 



INTERIOR DECORA TION 1 59 

Veians are the best of these paintings. It was, in fact, by 
these that the Chevalier of Arpino began the decoration of the 
hall. Afterwards, being compelled to divide his attention by 
other tasks which Pope Clement VIII. commissioned him to 
execute, among these, the painting of pictures for the Lateran 
palace, he neglected his undertaking at the Capitol. 1 In 1606, 
the Council called on him to terminate his work there within a 
year, and to give security for its being so accomplished ; 2 but 
the threat produced no result, so that, in the meeting held on 
the 23rd of June, 1608, deputies were bidden to go and insist 
on the Chevalier's duly fulfilling his contract. He had grown 
tired of it, and was pursuing it but very slowly. In 161 3, it 
was decided that the hall should be opened to the public in its 
unfinished condition. Subsequently, the Council renewed their 
remonstrances with the Chevalier to induce him to resume his 
task ; but all was in vain. The scaffolding put up at his 
expense was even taken away in 1 619. In 1638, the Pope was 
appealed to, with similar lack of success ; and the artist died 
without completing his work. 

Recapitulating, the wall paintings that decorate the palace of 
the Conservators are the following : 

Hall of the Conservators (large oblong saloon) — Fresco by 
the Chevalier of Arpino. 

First antechamber (square saloon) — Frescoes by Tommaso 
Laureti, representing Aulus Postumius at Lake Regillus, Brutus 
condemning his sons to death, Codes on the Sublician bridge, 
Porsenna. 

Second antechamber (formerly the room of the She-Wolf) — 
Frescoes by Daniel de Volterra (?) representing the Triumph of 
Marius, 3 Ripanda's Brutus. In this room is also a picture 
representing S. Francesca Romana. 

Third antechamber (hall of the Fasti) — Fresco attributed to 
Benedetto Bonfilii of Perugia. 

Audience-chamber (hall of the Geese) — Fresco representing 
the Olympian Games. Author unknown. 

Hall of the Throne — Episode in the life of Scipio Africanus, 
by Annibal Carrachio. 

Last hall— Episodes of the Punic wars, Perugino (?). 4 

1 Baglione, Le Vite dei Pittori, Naples, 1733, p. 255. Baglione was a 
contemporary of the Chevalier's. It was the Chevalier who designed some of the 
triumphal arches mentioned on the occasion of the installation of the Popes. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 31, fol. 147. 

' s Vasi (Nibby), Itinerary of Rome (in French), I. 82. m Panciroli, Roma 
Moderna, 1707, p. 572, attributes it to Pierino del Vaga ; but Vasari makes no 
mention of this fact in his biography of Vaga (t. V. 567-632). 

4 A. Tofanelli, p. 140. Cf. Rufini, Description of Rome (in French), p. 49, and 
Pietro Rossini, II Me?-curio errante, p. 15. 



160 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The Prisons of the Capitol in the Fifteenth 
and Sixteenth Centuries. 

From the beginning" of the fifteenth century, there were 
heretics almost constantly in the prisons of the Capitol : four 
in 1426, 1 seven and eight in 1427, five in February, 1428, and 
three in September. In 1429, a sorceress was among the 
prisoners. She, it seems, was the first woman imprisoned in 
the Capitol on the charge of witchcraft. 

Most of the prisoners, however, were insolvent debtors, which 
was natural, since the Capitoline tribunals were chiefly occupied 
with civil jurisdiction, from the fifteenth century. 2 The registers 
of visitors, sent by the Holy See, very often mention prisoners 
of this category, and nearly always by way of ordering their 
release. Such benevolent interference had been exercised of 
old. In the year 1408, the Pope ordered the release of those 
confined for fiscal debts, and, in 1431, Pope Eugenius IV. 
showed the same indulgence towards two Roman citizens, 
Silvestro Paloni and Antonio Saffi. 3 Later, visits increased, 
and releases became more frequent, being extended even to 
criminals against the common law. Either on the coronation 
of a Pope, or to solemnise Christmas festivities, or as a simple 
measure of clemency, the Holy See set prisoners at liberty. 4 
Sometimes the visitors commuted the imprisonment into the 
penalty of flogging; 5 sometimes they ordered a release on 

1 " Solvi faciatis provido viro Tho7iie de Viturclano sufirastanti carcerum 
Cancellarie Capitolii Urbis Flor. VIII de bon. L pro Jloreno expensis quatuor 
hereticorum unius mensis" (3 July, 1426). (Mand. Carrier., an. 1426-1427, fol. 4; 
cf. fol. 17.) 

a They were commoners, builders, dealers, as well as nobles; in 1612, noblemen 
belonging to the highest families in Rome, such as Giovanni Cesi, Lorenzo Minali, 
Gaspare de Cavalieri, were confined for debt. See, for the seventeenth century, 
Bibl. Vat., Cod. Barber., LIII. 123, a list of prisoners for debt detained in the 
Capitol. 

3 " Johanni Francisco de Pauciaticis senatori Urbis, ut nonnullos Propter 
public a debit a in career ibus Capitolinis et alibi detenti libertati restituat." 

(Theiner, Cod. diplom. S. Sedis, III. 150.) Archiv. Seg. Vat., Reg., vol. 371, 
fol. 72. 

4 Solvatis infrascriptis duobus creditoribus Angeli de Nursia quotidie in 
carceribus Capitolii pro debit o in tottim Fl. au. deCam. XLI debitorum debere suis 
creditoribus detenti et in die coronationis D. Nri. {Pius II.) de mandato S. S* s 
liberati et relaxati, videlicet: Albina Panicola aut hon^ viro Zacharia de 
Perleonibus de Urbe pro ea recipienti Jlor. au. I bon. XL (31 Oct., 1460). (Mand. 
Camer., an. 1458-1460, fol. 175.) Bernardinus de Parma in honorem festivitatis 
Dni. Nri. remiserunt (sic in the thought of the scribe, the reference is to visitatores) 
ei penain gratiose ut relaxaretw (22 Dec, 1537). Brunetta ebrea, attenta pace, 
relaxetur {\2. Oct., 1547). Lucretia curia lis (courtesan) liber etur gratis in honorem 

festivitatis sub comminatione fustigationis si de cetero cominiserit shnilia 
(21 Dec, 1553). {Archiv. di Stato, Archivio criminale, Visite alle Carcere, vol. I. 
and foil. Cf. Bertolotti, Le Prigione di Roma, Rome, 1890.) 

5 Mauritius Romanus, fustigatus per Urbein, relaxetur (30 Mar., 1538). 
Vicentius de Reate fustigetur per Urbein et relaxetur. Marcus Antonius de 
Asculo fustigetur per aulam et relaxetur {ibid.). 



THE PRISONS 161 

bail. 1 It also happened that the Pope would forbid the incar- 
ceration of prisoners for debt, in the Capitol, during certain 
periods, or else the incarceration for debts of small amount. 2 

Thus, the number of those confined was never very consider- 
able. In 1529, there were nineteen; in 1551, twenty-one; in 
1552, thirty-six; in 1560, sixty. 3 

In 1530, a French cook was among the prisoners ; in 1535, a 
doctor. 

A chaplain officiated in the prison. In 1473, his five months 5 
salary amounted to seven florins. 4 

In 1424, the Communal Council, under whose authority the 
Capitoline prisons were, resolved that the maintenance and 
guard of the prisoners should be farmed out from year to year. 5 
The fact that the lessees were both inhabitants of Vitorchiano 
seems to indicate they had been chosen from among the fedeli, 
the private guard of the Capitoline magistrates, all the men of 
which had to be natives of this city. The difference between 
the cost qf maintenance for those imprisoned on account of debt 
and the sums exacted from those that were the creditors 
constituted their profit. On the other hand, they were paid for 
the execution of certain orders of which they had the oversight, 
such as the flogging of Jews and hangings, even when these 
took place outside the Capitol. 6 

In the year i486, Francesco di Tozo was confined in the 
Capitol, for debt, which did not hinder the Holy See, soon after, 

1 Dns. Johannes Paulus Mocantius prestita catctione de solvendo sc. L quolibet 
anno de semestri in semestri rat am partem . . . relaxettii- (Registers of Visits, 
Visit of 21 Mar., 1602, vol. XIII.). Dominions De Matteis Romanus, data cautione 
desatisfaciendo creditor ibus pro quibus dctitieturvel fuit arrestatus . . . relaxetur 
(20 June, 1602). 

2 Decretum quod debitores de cetero nou possint tradi carceres nisi excedat 
summam minus ducat, auri (Visit of 20 Nov., 1528). Dni. visitatores 
decreverunt quod ab hac die usque ad dic7n primum proximi mensis Januarii 1557 
nullus capi, carcerari aut detineri possit pro debito civili et vigore mandati 
executivi cuiusvis Curie sub pena nullitatis ipsius capticre et quod capites statim 
gratis ubique debeat relaxari et decern Due. capsicle elcmosine s. Leonardi 
applicand. (23 Dec, 1550). Nullus pro debito civili realiter nee personaliter 
molestetur hinc et per totam octavam Pascalis Resurrcctionis (1 Feb., 1590). 
(Same authority, vol. I., V., IX.) 

3 Same authority ; cf. Scanarolus, De Visitaticne Career., Rcme, 1655. 

4 Mand. Camer., an. 1472- 1476, fol. 130. 

5 Venditio Cancellarie Capitolii Conserz>atores Camere Urbis vice et nomine 
Camer e Urbis pro commodo et tttilitate eiusdem . . . ac mandato Dni. Nri. pp. 
oraculo vive vocis facto venderunt, dederunt et concesserunt Thomasio Antonelli de 
Viturclano et Petro Paulo de Melone de Viturclano et heredibus. . . . Cancellariaju 
Palatii Capitolii acfructus, redditus et proventus dicte Cancellarie pro uno anno 
incipiendo die prima octobris . . . pro pretio et nomine pretii XL Jlor. (Archiv. di 
Stato, Reg. Cam. Capit., an. 1421-1425, fol. 284.) 

6 Due. XVII Ma7'cello de Alberinis custodi carcermu Curie Capitolii pro 
nonnullis expensis per euin factis Bernardino de Inter amne suspenso in Campo- 
Jlore, Francisco de Salerno per decretum visitatoruui carcerwn, Luce mercatoir 
Neapolitano suspenso in Capitolio et quibusdam hebreis fustigatis (1 Feb., 1531). 
(Mand. Camer., an. 1530-1534, fol. 33.) 

M 



162 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

from assigning to one of his family, if not to him, the farming of 
the jail. 1 It became, in a manner, the property of the family. By 
a Brief dated the 17th of January, 15 19, Pope LeoX. granted the 
keeper's office to Marcello Alberini, one of Tozo's descendants, 
and to Marcello's brother, Orazio. When the latter died, 
Marcello obtained sole possession. But when, in 1527, after 
the sack of Rome, he attempted to resume his duties, he found 
that a Spaniard, named Alvarez, had seized on the office, under 
cover of the prevailing disorder, 2 and, perhaps, with the 
connivance of the Communal Council, who profited by the 
opportunity to assert their prerogatives. 3 Being energetic, in 
spite of his sixteen years, he none the less succeeded in driving 
out the Spaniard. He had a keeper pro forma, who allowed 
one of the prisoners, a youth of eighteen, to hang himself with a 
silk girdle. The Conservators made grave remonstrances ; and 
Marcello, preferring to have less profit and more tranquillity, 
sub-let his lease for nine crowns a month, reserving for himself 
the gratuities of the prisoners that were liberated on the 15th of 
August. 4 The rent was, no doubt, too high, for the sub-lessees 
annulled their contract. Then Alberini made a bargain with 
some other lessees, at the rate of eight crowns a month, 5 but the 
latter were so lax in their surveillance that a chemist escaped 
(1529). In consequence, Alberini was held to be responsible, 
and was himself confined. Luckily for him, he was chosen by 
lot, two months after, to fill the office of provost of the mounted 
police, which procured him his release (September, 1529). He 
was not long even before obtaining redintegration in his former 
functions, being, in addition, created prisoners' notary. Two 
years later, on the 2nd of January, 1532, all his prisoners 
succeeded in escaping, by making a breach in the wall two 
yards thick. For this, he was summoned, together with 
Fioravante, the Captain of the Capitol, before the Senator's 
tribunal, which condemned him to be imprisoned. His release 

1 Scanarolus, De Visitatione Career., p. 25. 

2 Domenico Orano, // Sacco di Roma, vol. I., I record! di Mxrcello Alberini, 
pp. 306-307. 

3 The statutes of 151Q-1523, confirming previous ones, edicted (Bk. III., art. 86) 
that the prisons should depend exclusively on the Conservators and not on the Senator, 
and they fixed (Bk. III., art. 99) the keepers' remuneration : " Pro expensisfaciendis 
Carceratis, in Carceribus secretis detentis, habeat Comment ariensis sive Carcer- 
arius Carolinum unum firo firandis et tantiwifii o coenaS. . . Nee liceat Carcerario 
a carceratis relaxandis ultra duos Carlenos pro Carcere vel Custodia . . . petere 
vel cxigere." The statutes of 1580 confirmed these provisions. (Bk. III., art. 80 
and 99.) 

4 Orano, op. cit., p. 369. 

5 " In questo mese di febraio 1529 anchora non finita la locatione di Marco- 
Antonio e Julio de Ruspagliari da Rezzo Perche non mi ftagavano, ho locato la 
preggione di Campidoglio a Julio de Paerris per un anno da venire, per scudi 8 lo 
mese, di che e rogato el prothonotai'io et per lui ha promesso de Jida custodia 
Giovanni Baptist a Quintilis" Orano, p. 376. 



THE PRISONS 



163 



was obtained by the Senator Tornaboni, the very one that had 
condemned him ; and his family, if not himself, was again 
reinvested with the prisons' lesseeship. Alberini, however, had 
been obliged to pay a fine of fifteen hundred ducats. 1 In 1545, 
he was still in possession of his privilege ; and on the 30th of 
May, he leased the "prisons and the canteen of the Capitoline 
Curia," for two years, to a certain Camillo Blasio, at the rate of 




FIG. 34. — THE CAPITOL AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

ten and a half crowns a month. 2 The maintenance of a prisoner 
or rather of a female prisoner, then cost eleven crowns for two 
months and a half. 3 

1 Orano, pp. 396, 398. In 1570, a Marcello Alberini, who was, perhaps, the same 
person, became director of the people's printing-house. See the chapter dealing with 
this establishment (p. 175). 

2 Arch, di Stato, Ant. Pucci, Prot. 1386(1508-1555), p. 579. 

3 Payment made, on the 17th of April, 1545, to Camillo de Signa, who had, no 
doubt, preceded Blasio in his office. Arch, Seg, Vat., Div. Cam., vol. 134, fol. 178 

M 2 



1 64 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

To one Orazio Alberini, in 1625, under the pontificate of 
Urban VIII., was entrusted the task of enlarging the prisons 
of the Capitol, so that they might hold as many as a hundred 
prisoners. 1 

In the following century, the prisons of the Capitol were 
farmed out for a hundred crowns per annum, to the hospital 
(called the arch-hospital) of Sancta Sanctorum, that is to say, 
of the Lateran. One condition of the payment was that the 
hospital should feed the poor prisoners. 2 

The taxes charged on those incarcerated were reduced to a 
tariff in 1586 and 1591. 3 

The sums were never large that were spent on repairing the 
prisons. In 1466, a mason received fifty florins "pro parte 
solutionis fabrice carcerum reficiendorum in palatio Capitolii." 4 
In the same year, four doors in travertine were restored, and 
the cost of the job was seven florins ; 5 the materials were taken 
from the Coliseum.' 5 In 1469, the windows overlooking the 
Via del Campidoglio, or the front from which prisoners 
besought the public's chanty or intervention, were rebuilt ; the 
expense amounted to thirty-nine florins. The ironwork of 
them was heavy, the weight being estimated at 1414 pounds. 
Shortly afterwards, the window of the cell was repaired in which 
those condemned to death were confined. This cell was im- 
mediately above the jailer's room. 7 

In 1577, the prisoners complained of being too cramped up, 

1 Moroni, LXIV. 53, and art. Campidoglio, VII. We read in Scanarolus, De 
Visit at zone Care. : " De carceribus Capitolii praemittenduzn prius est ipsos spectare 
ad dominos de A Iberinis et ab ipsis locari, et de praesentium locari p?-o annuis 
sctitis 500 monetae persolvendis de mense in mensem anticipato ad trienniuju, ut 
per acta Francischini Prothonotarii Senatoris die 1 Aprilis, 1639." Cf. Forcella, 

I. n. 118. 

2 Assembly of the 12th of March, 1705. Archiv. Stor., Not. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 42, fol. 41. Ibid., Cred VII. fol. 41, fol. 24. Cf. ibid., Cred. XVII. vol. 1, 
p. 149. Assembly of the t8thof Feb., 1780. 

3 Decretofatto dalV Illmo. Sig. dell' una e delV altre legge Dottore Sig. Giovanni 
Pelicano Senatore di Roma da osservarsi dalli Guardiani e custodi delle Carcere 
di Campidoglio, publicato in visita ilix agosto. 1586 e confermata da N. S. Sixto V 
il i° ot. Tasse delli Pagamenti ed altri ordini da osserziarsi dal Capitano e Guar- 
diani delle carceri di Campidoglio avipliati e confermati di or dine della Santita di 
N. S. Gregorio XIV, dal! Illmo. Sig. Ludovico Area Senatore di Roma (Rome, 
16 March, 1591). (Archiv. Seg. Vat., Arm. V. vol. 48, fol. 83, 105.) 

4 Mand. Camer. Urbis, an. 1464-1473, fol. 21. 

5 Ibid., fol. 46. Miintz, in quoting these documents {The Arts, &c, v. II. 91) 
commits a slight error. They do not figure in the Archiv. di Stato among the 
Mandati Camerali, but among the Mandati Camerae Urbis, which shows that it 
was the Commune of Rome and not the Holy See which incurred the expense. 

6 Cf. what is rather obscurely said apropos by E. Miintz, in The Arts at the Court 
of the Popes (in French), I. 147. 

7 "Flor. XXXIX bon. XX Pro valore duarum fenestrarrun positaruju in 
carceribus Capitolii versus partem unde carcerati alloquuntur aliis personis{\\ Jan., 
1469). Fl. LXI bon. XXVI pro valore trium fenestrarum ferrorum quarum 7ma 
positafuit in camera supra carcererio in qua sunt carcerati ad pe7iam vitae. . . .' 
(Mand. Cam., an. 1468-1469, fol. 177.) 



THE PRISONS 



165 



and that in the prison there were no " public and secret 
chambers.'" 1 Some improvements were made in 1585, under the 
pontificate of Sixtus V. 2 

The prisons of the Capitol were partially done away with, 
when the alterations were carried out that had been begun 
under the inspiration of Michael Angelo. Yet, in the view of 
the Senatorial palace drawn by Gio. Batta. Falda, about 1680, 
on either side of the chief entrance, fairly close to the ground, 
grated windows appear, which would seem to be those that 
conveyed light to the prisons existing at that time. These 
windows have now disappeared. The two highest have been 



1 .... 




FIG. 35.— SENATORIAL PALACE. (FALDA's ENGRAVING.) 

replaced by marble tablets bearing inscriptions commemorative 
of the taking of Rome on the 20th of September, 1870. 

The last vestiges of the prisons were destroyed in 1876, at 
which date certain modifications were made in the interior ac- 
commodation of the Senatorial palace, where, at present, the 
various municipal offices are centred. The door formerly leading 
to them has become that of the Secretarial department. 

1 Council meeting of the 27th Nov., 1577. " De Mansionibus in carceribus 
Capitolinis fabric andis. N. Sig. Avendo avuto itna supplica dai prigionieri di 
Campidoglio di stare molto ristretti ed incomodi per mancanza di stanze publicize 
e segrete, ed anche per le donne. . . . N. S. Vha rimessa al Senatore il quale la 
rimette a voi. Ex S. C. decretum est debitae execittioni demandari et niansiones 
pro career at orum com moditate fieri, et ca propter sumenda et capienda esse sctita 
150 per eseguiredetti lavori" (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol 164.) The 
statutes of 1523 and those of 1580 recognise two sorts of prisons ; the private prison, 
which was that of persons confined at the instance of a private individual ; the public 
prison, in which were confined those charged with an offence against common law. 
(Statutes of 1523, Bk. II. , art. 56; Statutes of 1580, Bk. IT, art. 56.) See Gloss, of 
Galganetti, ed. 1611, p. 645, 2 Forcella, I. n. 86. 



1 66 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

At the top of the second landing of the stairs giving access to 
the prisons, an inscription records the alterations accomplished 
by order of Gregory XVI., in 1839. 1 

For a long time, the prisons went by the name Cancellaria, 
whilst the Tabularium had been called, as has been said, 
Camellaria, owing to the singular mistake already explained. 
The place was the same, with this shade of difference, that the 
Cancellaria was the most subterraneous part of the Tabularium, 
the one used as a jail. 

Executions in the Sixteenth Century. 

The hangings that Infessura, in his time, regretted were so 
few, as was seen in the previous chapter, were not long before 
they began again ; and numerous ones took place on the 
Capitol during the sixteenth century, and in the few years prior 
to it. 

In the single year of 1497 were hanged from the windows of 
the Capitol : Matteo di Andrea, Francesco di Giacomo, Pietro 
Santi, Giordano della Scarpa. At the same time, hangings 
were also carried out on the gibbet of Mount Caprino. 2 

The expenses of executions were generally paid by the 
Governor, who deducted the necessary sums from the money 
furnished by fines, taxae maleficiorum? Under date of the 
13th of July, 151 5, the executioner received three julii (about a 
hundred sols) for cutting off the head of a male servant, Gio. 
Batta ; he received, besides, a salary of three gold ducats a 
month. The price paid for hangings was the same as for 
decapitations, three julii. 4 It cost no more to have the criminal 
burned, after he had been hanged. 5 However, it would seem 
that compensation was made for the wood, the chains, and the 
scaffold, when the criminal had been burned alive. Eighteen 
carlins 6 were paid for the execution of a forger; and, for 
floggings, the executioner charged six carlins. 7 

1 Forcella, n. 382. 

2 Archiv. di Stato, Archivio di s. Giovanni Decollate*, Busta XXIV. vol. 2. This 
brotherhood's mission was to assist criminals ; a regular register was kept of the 
executions at which the brethren of the order had been present. 

3 Thus it was on the register of these taxes that such expenses were inscribed. 
Archiv. di Stato, Taxae Maleficiorum, Busta I. vol. 1 and following. 

4 Ibid., vol. I. p. 48: " Carnifex habuit j'ulios tres pro suspendendo Petrum 
Augustimim assassinum " (30 Aug., 1515). 

5 Ibid., p. 219 : " Carnifex habuit julios tres pro susftendendo et igne cremando 
quemdam falsatorem 7nonetaru7?i." 

6 Ibid. : " Pro just it ia Marcelli de Vicova7~o falsatoris moiietarum qicifuit igne 
crematus, videlicet pro lignis, funis, cathena, furca, et vectura ftredictaruyn 
7'eru77i Carl. XVI II." 

7 Ibid.: "Carnifex habuit Carle7ios sex pro f rust a7idis per U7'be7ii tribus qui 
ludeba7it cu77i ca7'tisfalsis. Cancellarius Bariselli habuit bol. XXXV, pro 7uilriis 



EXECUTIONS 



167 



The ropes that had been used in hanging belonged to the 
brotherhood of 5. Giova,7ini Decollate*. In 1510, the latter 
decided that these ropes should no longer be buried with the 
dead body, as had been the practice for some time, but that 
a return should be made to the ancient custom, to wit, the 
burning of all the ropes together, in great pomp, on the feast of 
the patron saint of the brotherhood. 

In 151 1, mention is made for the first time of a corpse being 
handed over to the doctors for examination. 1 



1 



f I 



:..:.. ^ "._"""_ ::.~ ._ y/'i 




FIG. 36.- 



-THE PALACE OF THE CONSERVATORS. 
ENGRAVING.) 



(falda's 



In the pontificate of Leo X., albeit it was peaceful, there were 
a great number of executions at the Capitol, both on the gibbet 
of Mount Caprino and on the Square of the palace. 2 A man 
was quartered there in the year 1542. 3 

The last execution which took place on the Square of the 
Capitol was that of three so-called conspirators, Count 



et funis ; et etiam nonnullis aliis necessariis firo susfiendendo Matthiam Peroctum.' 
Ibid. : ' ' Carnifex habuit julios sex pro amputando manum et caput cujusda.771 
homicide. Julios tres pro amputando caput cuidam de Velio. Julios tres pro sus- 
pendendo quemdam assassinum ad Tzirrim None. Carnifex habuit julios VI pro 
stispendendo et igne cre7iiando Magistrum Johannem hispanum chirurguni. Carl. 
15 pro frustando per urbem quemdam fur em. Carnifex habuit julios tres pro 
amputando caput Julio Delia Fossa." 

1 Archivio di Stato, Registri delle Giustizie, vol. III. p. 32. In post-mortems 
the pontifical authorities observed numerous formalities, the details of which will be 
found in our work on " Workmen s Guilds in Rome" Corporation of Doctors, vol. 
II. (in French). 

2 Registers of S. Giovanni Decollato, vol. III., IV., V. 

3 Aug., 1542 : " Giuli 15 a Benedetto da Bologna per la riparazione delle forche. 
Due. 2 al Ministro di Giustizia, Marchetto, per sua mercede di avere strascinato 



1 68 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Antonio Canossa, Taddeo Manfredi, and Benedetto Accolti, the 
last a son of the Cardinal of Ancona, who were dragged through 
the City, tied to the tail of a horse, and were afterwards 
slaughtered " like cows," on the Square of the Capitol (i 565). 1 

After executions had ceased in the Capitol, the heads of those 
put to death were exposed in front of the prisons ; as, for 
instance, that of the Marquis Manzoli, who was beheaded in the 
Torre di Nona prison (1636). 2 In the same year, a condemned 
man had his hand cut off, in front of the palace of the 
Conservators ; after which, he was hanged on the Giudea 
Square. 3 

The punishment of the strappado was inflicted at the Capitol 
until the Revolution. In 1768, as the authorities were about to 
apply it to a malefactor, it was perceived that the necessary 
iron apparatus standing at the corner of the palace, nel cantone 
del palazzo Senatorio, was unfit for use. Orders were conse- 
quently given for its repair. 4 This instrument was destroyed, 
together with other implements of the same kind, on the entry 
of the French troops into Rome. 



Consular Tribunals. 

The necessities of their judiciary magistracy imposed on the 
consuls of the corporations the duty of holding their sittings 
in the immediate neighbourhood of the Capitol, the more so as 

et impiccato Federigo d 'Abruzzo. Al detto carolini 10 per il cavallo e quello che lo 
menava per strascinare Federigo d 'Abruzzo (p. 75). Al, detto giuli 15 per avere 
f rust at i due e posti alia berlina."\Archiv. diStato, Mand. Camer. Urbis, 1542, fol. 55.) 
Then again for the years 1544, 1557, fol. 8 : Due 3 : 50 a maestro Staziofunaro pe7- 
una corda da dar tormenti dalla corte di Campidoglio ; fol. 22: A I Maestro di 
giustizia sc. 1 : 50 per avere appicato e bruciato Hieronimo francioso luterano ; 
fol. 31: Bol. 75 al maestro di giustizia per avere f rust at o e tagliato Vorecchio 
ad uno. 

1 Reg. di S. Gio. Decollato, vol. X. 306. The brotherhood sp°nt 57 baiocchi in 
malmsey, Greek wine, confetti and cakes given to the condemned. The chaplain, 
who had overworked himself, had 25 bai. 

2 1st Sept., 1636. Sentenza contro Francesco Manzoli dei Bentivogli di Bologna 
0U711 Cam. Ap. clericum confessum quod dictaverit, composuit librum intitulatum 
" Ricordi del marckese Manzoli" nel quale sono maldicenze conti'o il pontifice ed 
altri. Fiie condannato al taglio della testa per delitto di lesa maesta contro 
Urbano VIII. {Arckiv . di Stato, Sentenze criminali del Senatore, vol. II. busta 
944, fol. 255.) A sort of guillotine had been used for this execution ; the person who 
copied the sentence drew a sketch of it in the margin. In the middle of a wooden 
frame hang-; by a cord a heavy piece of wood, in which is fixed a semicircular 
chopper ; below there is a rectangular block. The sentence was a judiciary error, as 
was ascertained when the trial was appealed against: by the heirs, whose only aim, 
indeed, was to avoid the confiscation of the condemned man's property. (Diario di 
Mons. Spada, Cod. Barberiniano, LIV. 61 ad an.) 

3 Arckiv. di Stato, Archiv. di S. Giovanni Decollato, vol. XXII. fol. 256. 
4^Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XV. vol. 1, fol. 78 



CONSULAR TRIBUNALS 



169 



the Senator was the appeal judge, in the various disputes that 
came before them. Formerly, indeed, the statutes obliged 
them to render justice at the foot of the market tower, which 
accounts for the fact that, as soon as the edifice was built which 
became the palace of the Conservators, the consuls installed 
themselves there for the holding of their sittings. In a Bull of 
Pope Gregory XII., dated in 1407, and addressed to the drovers' 
corporation, is the expression : " In lovio dicte artis sito in 
opposito palatii CapitoliiT l The cordwainers also had a room 
there from the early part of the fifteenth century. In the land- 
survey book of the Archbrotherhood Sa?icta Sanctorum, we read 
the following delimitation 
of a piece of ground : 
" Domum terreneam et 
tegulatam posit am in 
Mercato, ubi consueti sunt 
residere Calsorarii. Inter 
hos fines, 'ab uno . . . 
domus quod Gregorii de 
Marganis, ante via pub- 
lic a que dicitur " Lo 
Mercato" et ab alio via 
per quam itur ad domus 
olim Banderensium. " 2 

A decision of the Com- 
munal Council, dated the 
28th of April, 1 569, grants 
to the consuls of the 
spice-dealers the room 

previously occupied by the farmers' corporation, in return for a 
payment of one hundred and fifty crowns. 3 Ottavio V^estri, who 
published his book in 1609, speaks of the already numerous 
consular tribunals established at the Capitol. 4 The names of 
divers corporations, which are still visible, engraven above the 
doors opening into the gallery of the palace of the Conservators, 
indicate the exact location of such tribunals, which must have 
resembled the small shops to which the consuls, when once 
their audience was over, came back to work. The following 
titles may be read there, starting from the right : VNIVER- 
SITATIS FABRORVM ; VNIVERSITAS TABERNA- 
RIORVM ; VNIVERSIT. CARPENTARIOR. ; VNIVER- 
SITA DE MACELLARI ; COLLEG. DE S.S. MERCANTI ; 

1 Statuti dell 'Agricultural, eel. 1878, pp. in, 235. 

2 Camillo Re, II Campidoglio, Bullettino della Com, A r ch, Com,, an. X. 1882, 
p. 113. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 24, fol. 37, 

4 Gatti, Bull, Coiiim., an, 1894, p. 360. 




FIG. 37. — THE CAPITOL. (FROM AN 
ENGRAVING OF THE CABINET OF 

PRINTS.) 



170 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

COLLEGIO DE FONDACO DI S. MICHELE ARC; 
AROMATARIORVM COLLEGIVM. 1 Along the steps 
leading to Vignola's portico, on the side towards the Tarpeian 
Mount, other corporations had their tribunals, to wit, the 
innkeepers, masons, bakers, tailors. On the architrave of one 
door can be read : VNIVERSITATIS ALBERGATORVM ; a 
little further, on another door : HIC EST CONSV.MVRATOR, 
with the corporation emblems, a compass, a hammer, a plumb- 
line, a trowel and a square. Above a fourth door are engraven, 
on a marble-tablet, the coat of arms of the bakers, four loaves 
amidst a crown of lavender. At the end of the staircase, 
near the portico, there is inscribed, on a lintel : VNIVERSITAS 
SVTORVM ; beside the busts of the two apostles, St. Peter 
and St. Paul, with a pair of scissors in the middle. On the 
opposite side appear emblems which may be those of the 
carpenters. 2 

In 1 67 1, by a letter in his own hand, dated on the 25th of 
January, the Pope authorised the silk and wool trades to meet 
in the "new palace," viz., in the one that had just been built 
opposite the palace of the Conservators. 3 The notaries had 
rooms there likewise, 4 In 1 697, a certain number of corporations 
begged permission to quit the rooms they occupied in the old 
palace, and to remove to the one that had been finished, pledging 
themselves to be responsible for all expenses resulting from the 
transfer. The Communal Council agreed to the request. 5 

When the ecclesiastical tribunals had acquired the monopoly 
of all law cases, and had done away with the other jurisdictions, 
a change which was operated in the course of the eighteenth 
century, the consular courts of justice gradually disappeared ; 
and the corporations made the most of the rooms to which 
their consuls had no longer to go, for want of cases to judge. 
Some let them out to shopkeepers, others made tenements of 
them. The matter, however, created a scandal ; and, on the 
27th of April, 1 74 1, the Communal Council, which had become 
a " congregation? decided to take the keys of their room from 
the ironmongers, who had allowed strangers to take possession 
of it. 6 In their meeting of the 31st of August, 1744, the 
Communal Congregation informed the Conservators that the 
spice-dealers had hired out their court-room to the City- 
sweeper ; and they gave orders that prohibitive measures 
should be taken. In 1758, the apothecaries also let their room ; 
and the scribe of the Senate was, in consequence, bidden to 

1 Cf. Bernardini, Descrizione del nuovo Rifiartimento, Rome, 1744, p. 171. 

2 Gatti, Statuti dei Mercanti, p. xlvi ; Vestri, Pratica, Rome, 1606, p. 38. 

:J Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 4, fol. 89. Copy of the autograph letter. 
4 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 4, fol. 97. 5 Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 4, fol. 126. 

6 Ibid., Cred. VII. vol. ioo, fol. 288. 



HONORIFIC S TA TUBS 1 7 1 

turn out the tenants. Ten years before, in 1748, the butchers 
had, of their own accord, given up possession of their room, 
which was made over to the proxies of the Capitol. 1 Indeed, 
the possession of a room at the Capitol was a heavy charge. 
The husbandmen's corporation was obliged, in order to get the 
premises which the drapers were giving up, to pay ten pounds of 
Venice wax to the Capitoline Chamber every year, and to keep in 
repair the roof of the palace of the Conservators, into the bargain. 
The woolmongers' corporation, rather than repair the windows 
of the room where they met, preferred to remove and abandon 
their privilege. 2 

The remaining rooms were closed in 18 16. They belonged 
to the innkeepers, bakers and cordwainers, who, however, let 
them. As for the other rooms, the Capitoline Chamber had 
long since taken possession of them. 3 



Honorific Statues. 4 

Leo X. was the first Pope to whom a statue was raised in the 
Capitol. 5 The Communal Council, in their meeting of the 
10th of July, 1 5 18, resolved to accord him this honour, as a 
mark of the Roman people's gratitude to him. 6 In fact, 
Leo X. had restored to the people some of their ancient rights 
and revenues. 7 Domenico Diana of Bologna was entrusted 
with the task. The condition had been imposed on him 
that he should carve the statue in Carrara marble ; but, as no 
advance of money had been made him, he put the statue in a 
private house, on its being finished, and entered an action 
against the Conservators. 8 In 1520, the matter was not yet 
settled. 9 Then he was forced to restore a hundred ducats which 
had been handed him as an instalment in the interval. 10 Subse- 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. too, fol, 515 ; Cred. VII. vol. 69, fol. 162 ; 
vol. 40, fol. 300. Functionaries are meant, employees who acted as process-servers 
to the people. 2 Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 40, fol. 129, 177. 

3 Assembly of the 30th of Dec, 1816. Archiv. Sror. Capit., Cred. XVIII. 
vol. 99, fol. 79, 82, 89, 96, 106. 

4 For general information, see Cod. Vat. 7927, c. 101. Decreti del Senito e 
Popolo Romano in occasione di eriggere statue ai Roiiiani Pontifici. 

5 D. Gnoli, Descriptio Urbis, in the Archiv. della R. Societa R. di Storia 
patria, XVII. 389 ; D. Orano, II Sacco di Roma, I. 202. 

6 Sitting of 10th July. 1518. Orders were given to Giuliano Giovenale, prior of 
the caporioni, and to Francesco Branca, chancellor, to pay the necessary sums. 
Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 34, fol. 45. The text is somewhat different. 
Cred. I. vol. 15, fol. 35 ; vol. 11, fol. 71 ; same sitting. 

7 By the Bull " Dum singularem" of the 18th April, 1513. 

8 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Atti Notarili orig., vol. 899. 

9 It is true that they were totally out of funds. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I 
vol. 36, fol. 68. Cf. fol. 81. 

10 Ibid., vol. 14, fol. 126 ; vol. 33, fol. 180. 



172 THE. ROMAN CAPITOL 

quently, the work was resumed and the last touches were made ; 
and the statue was set up in one of the rooms of the palace of the 
Conservators. 1 In 1876, this statue was removed to the church 
of S. Maria Aracoeli, by the care of the Syndic of Rome. It 
had a guardian, who was paid, as a'salary, a hundred crowns a 
year ! However, the guardian's duties were not confined to 
watching over the statue ; he was also required to honour it. 
When the first guardian died, his duties were divided out, and 
his prebend also. Monks received the emoluments, the con- 
dition being that they should say masses in honour of the 
defunct Pope. 2 

Paul III. had his statue in the Senatorial palace, near the 
tribunal of the maestri di sirada. 3 It was erected in 1543. 
The Syndic of Rome had it removed, in 1876, as he had done 
with that of Leo X., to the church of S. Maria Aracoeli. Paul IV., 
too, had his statue in the Capitol. 4 In 1558, four Councillors 
were appointed to superintend its completion. 5 

On the death of this Pope, in 1559, the people cast down his 
statue, which was utilised, subsequently, for the honouring of 
another Pope. The socle was given to the Aracoeli monks, at 
their own request. 6 

In 1576, a credit was granted to Paolo Oliviero to terminate 
the statue of the then reigning Pope, Gregory XIII. 7 For 
that of Sixtus V., the sculptor Taddeo Landini was paid thirteen 
hundred crowns, a sum which he deemed insufficient (26th of 
June, 1587). 8 On the other hand, Costanza Sforza obtained 
leave to set up, in a room of the palace, the statue of her husband, 
Giacomo Buoncompagni, "to honour his memory." 9 The 
abuse of the custom was beginning. On the death of 
Sixtus V., during the interregnum in the Holy See, it was decreed 
that, " on pain of infamy," no one should, thenceforth, propose 

1 On the socle an inscription was engraven. Forcella, I. n. 40. 

2 Meeting cf the 4th of Aug., 1524. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 36, 
fol. 742. 

3 It was two magistrates of this order who had been the promoters of the erection 
of this statue. D. Orano, II Sacco di Roma, I. 489. It had been taken from a 
pillar found in the Capitol. E. Miintz, The Ancient Monuments of Rome (in 
French), 1886, p. 41. Text of the inscription engraven on the pedestal. Forcella, 
I. 11. 46. 

4 Meeting of the Communal Council (Oct., 1555). Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 36, fol. 742. 

5 Ibid., vol. 37, fol. 10. 

6 Sitting of the XIV. Kal. Sept., 1563. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 37, 

fol. 157, 159- 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 24. Eight commissaries were 
appointed on the 2Qth Mar., 1576. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 33. 

8 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 6t, fol. 11. Inscription placed on (he socle. Forcella, I. 
n. 84. Cf. Bertolotti, Artisti bolognesi a Roma, Bologna, 1885, p. 83. 

9 Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 15, fol. 47, 137 ; vol. 16, fol. 26 ; vol. 21, fol. 145. He was 
the son of Pope Gregory XIII. ', see p. 171, 



HONORIFIC S TA TUBS 1 73 

the erection of a statue to a living Pope (28th of August, 1590). 1 
In contrast to this, the Council decided, on the 27th of September 
following, that a statue should be erected to Pope Urban VII., 
who had died on the 15th of September, after twelve days' reign. 2 
In 1593, a statue was raised to Alexander Farnese; 3 in 1595, 
another was voted to Mark Antony Colonna, who had contributed 
to the victory of Lepanto (1571), 4 and yet another to the Count 
di Santafiora. 5 In 1596, a statue was raised to Virginio 
Orsini. 6 Clement VII. also had his statue ; his beneficence to 
the Capitol well deserved this favour ; but, in order that the 
expense might not be too great, the Council contented itself 
with putting a new head to the statue of Paul IV., which the 
people had nor. long before decapitated. It was only in 1649 
that Bernini received the order to model an entire statue. 7 

1 " De caetero simulacra, Pontificum viventium non erigautzir." Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 254. In 1657, tne three Conservators declared they had 
seen in the hall of the Fasti the following inscription, the text of which they gave, 
and that they knew the instructions it contained had been abolished by a Brief of 
Pope Urban VIII., dated the nth of Jan., 1634. See further on, p. 188. 

Text of the inscription : 

SI QVIS PRIVATVS SIVE MAGISTRATVM GERENS, SIVE ALIAQVAVIS 
AVCTHORITATE POLLENS DE COLLOCANDA VIVO PONTIFICI 
STATVA MENSIONEM FACERE AVXIT LEGITIMO S.P.Q.R. DECRETO 
JN PERPETVVM INFAMIS ET PVBL1CORVM MVNERVM EXPERS 
ESTO. MDXC MENS. AVGVST. IN TABVLA MARMOREA AD ^ETER- 
NITATEM INCIDERE CVRARVNT MDXCI MENS. MARTO. 

RVTILIVS ALTERIVS, ALPHONSVS AVILA, OCTAVIVS BVBALVS 
CONSERVAT. 

PROSPER JACOBATIVS DE FACESCHIS PRIOR. 

QVOD IN MALAS ADVLATORVM ARTES OLIM S.P.Q.R. DECRE- 
VERATID NE CVICQVAM RVRSVS ELVDENDI ADITVS SVPERS1T 
PLACVIT NOVO S.C. CONF1RMARE AVGEREQVE VT NEMO IN 
SENA IV VERBA FACIAT DE COLLOCANDA STATVA PVBLICOVE 
MONVMENTO SIVE VIVO PONTIFIC1, SIVE ALUS QVI CVM VIVO 
PONTIFICE CONIVNCTI SANGVINE VEL V AMILIARITATE AVT 
VIVANT AVT EVIV1S EXCESSERINT, QVI SECVS FAXIT INFAMIS 
ET PVBLICIS MVNERIBVS IMPAR SCIET DIE PRIMA APRILIS 
MDCV. 

HI£RONIMVS DE BALZEO DE SIRLETIS, ANTONIVS GABRIELIVS, 
TIBERIVS LANCELLOTTVS CONSERVAT. 

ANTONIVS MVTIVS PRIOR. 

Archiv. Stor. Capit., Not. Conserv., vol. 4, 102. In the margin, on the following 
page, we read : "I, Constantin Gigli, having learnt that these decrees were about to 
be abolished, copied them word for word." 

2 Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 258. 

3 The 15th of November. Ibid., Cred IV. vol. 104, fol. 5. Inscription engraven 
on the base. Forcella, I. n. 97. 

4 Inscription on the base. Forcella, I. n. 101. See p. 170. He had died in 1584. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. IV. vol. 104, fol. 29, 41, and Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 172. 
Several of these statues, among others that of Mark Antony Colonna, may still be 
seen in the gallery of the Capitoline Museum (Palace of the Conservators). 

fi The 2nd of Aug. Ibid., Cred I. vol. 30, fol. 210. 
" Michaelis, La Collez. Capit., p. 52. 



174 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



The Popes at the Capitol. 

About the middle of the sixteenth century, it became a 
custom that the Popes should stop at the Capitol, on their way 
to St. Peter's in the Lateran, in order to take possession of the 
tiara. Saint Pius V., it seems, was the first who received there 
the homage of the urban magistrates. 1 The Conservators and 
other officers came to meet him ; and, after saluting him, accom- 
panied him on horseback to the Lateran (1566). The cere- 
mony retained this simplicity until the coronation of Sixtus V., 
in honour of whom an arch of three poles was erected and 
decorared with escutcheons containing his coat of arms (1585). 
Better still was done for Gregory XIV. ; a triumphal arch was 
raised at the summit of the great staircase, and the atrium 
was decked with fine hangings, not, as the narrator says, with 
vulgar coverings ; and the Conservators, the heads of the 
various wards, with the two chancellors, went to meet the Pope, 
to the sound of oboes followed by the voice of numerous 



musicians (1590). 



Festivities held in the Capitol in the Sixteenth 
Century. 

In the sixteenth century, there were theatrical performances 
in the Capitol. On the 20th of April, 1501, the anniversary of 
the foundation of the City, the Conservators gave a banquet in 
their palace, at which Burchard was present, and found the 
wines, moreover, to be of very poor quality. The banquet was 
succeeded by a comedy ; but the audience was so numerous 
and so noisy that nothing could be heard. 3 In the pontificate 
of Leo X., there was a comedy again, when the people granted 
the freedom of the City to Giuliano and Lorenzo de Medici, to 
please the Pope (15 13). A Latin play was acted, which was 
very long and uninteresting. 4 

1 Cancellieri, Storia dei solenni possessz, Rome, 1802, p. in and following for the 
other coronations. 

2 Expenses incurred on this occasion. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, 
fol. 260. 

3 " Inde (after the mass said at the church of S. Maria Aracoeli) ivimus ad 
ftalatiwn conservatorum tibi invitati fecerunt prandium in quada7U logia quad- 
rangulari in qua parte fuerunt due viense longe,juxta duos muros, quorum duo 

apita conjungebantur ; una extendebat se illuc alia ita quodfaceret triangulum. 
. . . Prandium fuit satis feriale et sine bono vino. Post prandium fuit recitata 
quedazn comedia in curia palatii predicti, in tanta populi pressura, quod propter 
vialum ordinem nemo potei'at videre bene. Nonfuerant servata loca invitatis vel 
nobilibus, sed omnia in confusio ; propterea recessi." Ed. Thuasne, III. 132. 

4 Cerasoli, Le Feste in Campidoglio nel 1513 ; II Buonarrotti, 1891 ; Roscoe, The 
Life of Leo the Tenth, I. 329. Cf. Diario di P. de Grassi, published by Armellini, 



FESTIVITIVES HELD IN THE CAPITOL 175 

In 1 571, Mark Antony Colonna was received in trumph at 
the Capitol, after the victory at Lepanto. There had been 
great terror in Rome; in 1565, the Communal Council had 
decided to call all the people to the Capitol, in order that they 
might testify their attachment to the Holy See, and their 
determination to hold out against the Turk. 1 Great fetes were 
resolved on, to the expense of which the Pope, Pius V., 
announced that he would contribute. 2 

On the election of Gregory XIII. (1572), the Roman 
magistrates, to ingratiate themselves with him, granted the 
freedom of the City to his son Giacomo Buoncompagni, to 
whom they also offered a banquet at the Capitol. The payment 
of the expenses was not settled without certain protests, with 
which the Communal Council had to deal. 3 

In 1585, Japanese ambassadors came to Rome to open up a 
negotiation with the Pope. Having left Nagasaki on the 20th 
of February, 1582, they made their solemn entry into Rome on 
the 22nd of March, 1585, and were received at the Capitol ; but 
the details of their reception are not known. 4 



People's Printing-House. 

Already a hundred years had passed since the German 
printers Hahn, Schweinheim and Pannartz had brought to 
Rome the art of typography, which flourished but poorly, when 
Pope Paul IV. bethought himself to create in his capital a 
printing establishment for the purpose of publishing, from texts 
accepted by the Church, the theological works that the German 
Lutherans were then editing in quite another spirit. To this 
end, he addressed himself to Paul Manutius, son of the 
celebrated Aldus Manutius, whose classical editions rendered 
him especially fitted to carry out the task which the Pope 
desired to entrust to him. An annual remuneration of five 
hundred gold crowns was assured him, in addition to other 
advantages. 5 

Rome, 1894, p. 75. The She-Wolf and the Hand holding a globe were used in 
decorating the theatre. Michaelis, Coll. Capit., p. 14. 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 22, fol. J19. 2 Ibid., vol. 25. fol. 170. 

3 Sitting of the 30th of September, 1573. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred I. vol. 38, 
fol. 485. 

4 Sitting of the nth of May, 1583. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 28, 
fol. 278. 

5 Moroni, Diz. diErud., LXIX. 288 ; Renouard, Annals of the Aldine Printing- 
J>ress (in French), Paris, 1834, p. 188; Bruner, S implement, p. ion; New General 
Biography (in French), article Manutius, byAmbroise Firmin-Didot ; Grand French 
Encyclopedia, art. Paul Manutius. The indications of these various authorities do 
not always agree. In the article of Ambroise Firmin-Didot, it is said, at the 



176 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

His press was set up in a house near the Trevi fountain and 
received at the beginning the title of the Apostolic printing- 
press ; but, as the house belonged to the Commune, 1 the volumes 
that were issued from his press bore the mention : " In Aedibus 
Populi RomaniP 2 This has led several authors to believe that 
the people's printing-house had been removed, at some time or 
other, to the Capitol, into the palace of the Conservators. A 
sort of tradition even has grown up to this effect ; 3 but, in 
addition to there being no trace of such an installation, no text 

beginning, that Paul Manutius died at Venice, and, at the end, that he died in Rome. 
It was, in fact, in Rome that he died. Cf. Memoir of Fabrizio Galletti (see further 
on) at the Communal Council. Deliberation of the Communal Council concerning 
the grant of the 500 crowns. Archiv. wStor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 24, fol. 226. Paul 
Manutius, it seems, had a private printing-press ; several works that appeared at this 
time bear the mention : Romae apud Paulum Manutium, Aldi F. Renouard, 
A nnals of the A Idi (in French), gives the titles of them. The first was De Concilio liber 
Reginaldi Poll Cardinalis, M.D.LXII. '\ he protector and patron of Manutius, 
to wit, Paul IV., having died in Aug., 1559, the event must have delayed the 
commencement of the printing, and perhaps the arrival of Manutius, since his 
biographers give it as being on the 7th of June, 1561. There were other printing- 
presses in Rome ; that of Blado, which was old established (it was already at work 
about 1536 : Brunet, IV. 787) was the most important of them The publications 
from his press have been catalogued by Fumagalli, Catalogo delle edizioni romane 
di A. Blado, Rome, 1891 ; they number 666. From 1560 till 1567, the 
frontispiece bears : Romae apud Antonium Bladum, Impressorem Cameralem. 
Then, after this date, Bladum being dead, it is : Romae, apud heredes Antonii 
Bladii, Impressores Camerales. Before the establishment of the people's printing- 
house, Blado received a monthly stipend of four ducats. (Mand. Camer., 1552-1554, 
fol. 106, 14 Aug., 1553.) " Solvatis Antonio Blado Impressori Apos. Due. XVI 
auri de Cam. pro sua quatuor tnensiuTfi ordinaria provisione." From 1593, Blado's 
name completely disappears ; and the publications, whether books or edicts, that 
were issued by his press, bear only the mention : Apud Impressores Camerales. 
He left a son or relative who, on the 2nd of Sept. previously, had been imprisoned 
for the crime of sodomy (Cod. Urb. Vat. 1060) ; in 1578, he had been called on, as 
will be seen, to manage the people's printing-house. Besides the two great printing 
establishments of Manutius and Blado, there were many others of less importance. 
On works published in Rome in this period appear the names of Accolto (1567), 
Eliano (1573), De Rubeis (1574), Domenico Baso, who published the Kalendarium 
gregorianum perpetuum (1582), Giliotto (1583), both of whom were interested in the 
people's printing-house ; Bonfodino (1585), Francesco Zanetti (1585), who also had 
to do with the people's printing house ; Bartolomeo Grassi (1587), De Dianis (1588). 
Giorgio Ferrari (1590), Franceschi (1598), Facchetti (1600). Cardinal ,de 
Medici, who, in 1587, became Grand-Duke of Tuscany under the name of 
Ferdinand I., created a printing-press especially intended to reproduce works in 
oriental type. Gio. Batta. Raimondi of Cremona was commissioned to superintend 
the printing. In 1592, this press published an Arabic alphabet, Alphabet7im 
Arabicum, 1592, in Typographia Medicea, M.D.XCII. 

1 The purchase had been made in 1562. Council meeting of the 10th of Jan., 
1562. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 37, fol. 99. The house was, in fact, 
brought for 6,150 crowns. Ibid., fol. 143. The people's coat of arms was placed on 
the house in July. Ibid., fol. 153. 

2 The first works, as, for instance, that of Franciscus Vargas, Catholicae 
Maiestatis rerum Status, bear the mention Apud Paulum Manutium Ax Idi, in 
Aedibus Po. Ro. It was not until after 1567 that it disappeared in consequence of 
the breach between Manutius and the Communal Council. 

3 Moroni, loc. cit. ; Renouard, Annals of the Aldine Printing-press (in French), 
Paris, 1834, p. 184. Filippo de Boni, Biografia degli Artisti, Venice, 1840, p. 608. 
On the contrary, Michel Mettaire, Annals of Typogr. (in French), III., II. 512, in 
relating the life of Manutius, makes no allusion to the establishment of the people's 
printing-house in the Capitol. 



PEOPLE'S PRINTING-HOUSE 



177 



making mention of it, all the documents having to do with the 
said press tend, on the contrary, to contradict such an 




FIG. 38.— THE CAPITOL SEEN FROM THE FORUM. 

hypothesis. It seems, therefore, certain that the press remained 
in the spot where it was first set up. 1 

1 This is also the opinion of the learned director of the Capitoline Archives, 
Doctor Coletti, who is preparing a special work on this point and who has kindly 



178 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

It was an unprofitable business from the commencement. 
The Pope had presented the establishment with a quantity of 
fine type, 1 and had exempted the paper, ink, and fresh type from 
duties ; yet in spite of these advantages, the working of it was 
so onerous that, in 1653, the Pope begged the Communal 
Council, through the medium of Cardinal Vitellozo-Vitelli, to 
take over the press, and to devote to its maintenance at least 
two hundred crowns, deducted from the Gabella dello Studio 
(foreign wine-tax). He reminded them that it was "a thing 
necessary to religion and useful and honourable to the City." 
But the Council replied that they did not see what advantage 
the Commune could have in keeping up an undertaking for 
others alone to profit by. The public Council, to which the 
secret Council submitted the question, returned the same 
answer. 2 In reality, however, the Romans wished the Holy See 
to give effect to its offer. As, in the month of February 
following, the Motu firoftrio ratifying the donation had not yet 
been handed to the Conservators, the Council grew anxious. It 
was explained to them that the deeds were still in the possession 
of the Cardinals, who were desirous of inserting exceedingly 
hard conditions in them, such as the obligation to spend from 
ten to twelve thousand crowns on the reinstallation of the 
printing machinery, and a pledge to devote three hundred 
crowns a month to its being kept in repair, and to publish no 
work without their (the Cardinals') consent or the consent of 
" their ministers." In fine, replied the Councillors, after listening 
to these proposals, the Roman people would have no other right 
than that of paying. 3 Thereupon the Pope entrusted the 
management of the press to Paul Manutius, who, until then, 
it would seem, had been the technical manager. When 
Cardinals Amulio and Vitelli announced to the Council deputies 
this decision of the Pope, they protested, maintaining 
that the sovereign pontiff had made a gift of the press to the 
people. It was replied to them that the people had not 
accepted the gift ; and Paul Manutius, being introduced, 
exhibited the Brief that conferred on him the directorship. 
The deputies learnt even that the Pope would require the 
Council to continue the monthy grant of sixty crowns they 
were paying to the press. Then they insisted on an audience 
with the Pope himself, who repeated to them that, if he had 

and most unselfishly facilitated our own researches. If in this study such particular 
notice is paid to the people's printing-house, it is because of its intimate connection 
with the Capitoline palace, and also because of the false notion that has just been 
dealt with. 

1 Dictionary of Geography (in French), Deschamps, sequel to Brunet, col. iioi. 

2 Sitting of the 29th of Nov., 1563. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 22, fol. 26. 

3 Sitting of the 17th of Feb., 1564. Ibid., fol. 45. 



PEOPLE'S PRINTING-HOUSE 179 

made over the establishment to another party, it was owing to 
their own procrastination. At the same time, however, he pro- 
mised that, before long, he would confer on the people a more 
important gift. 1 None the less, the protest formulated by the 
representatives of the Council bore fruit apparently, since an 
agreement was come to between Paul Manutius and the people, 
by the terms of which Manutius consented to the donation 
being transferred to the Roman people, on condition that the 
profits accruing should be equally shared between him and 
them. 2 On his side, Manutius held to none of his engage- 
ments ; 3 and, in consequence, the Council suppressed the grant 
they had agreed to pay him. 4 To this Manutius replied by 
closing the prmting-house doors against the Council deputies, 
and by refusing to produce his accounts. 5 A lawsuit was 
begun ; and the first act of the Communal Council was to claim 
restitution of the house in which the press was set up, on the 
ground that it had great need of being put in order and even 
of being repaired (1566). 6 Then they decided, when they 
had gained this point, that the said house should be sold, and 
that the sum accruing from the sale should be invested in the 
State pawn establishment, with a view to its being used later in 
meeting the expenses of the press. A "depositary" and an 
accountant ("computist," i.e., a sort of book-keeper) were 
designated to watch the transaction (7th of May, 1566). 7 The 
house was sold to Lelio da Ceri, who paid off the last instal- 
ment of the purchase money in 1568.* The Council had, how- 
ever, by no means given up superintending their printing-press, 
which seems to have remained in the same premises. They 
appointed commissaries, every year, " ad gubernium stampae" ; 
but, as this superintendence was troublesome, the commissaries 
were continually resigning office. 5 ' In 1570, the press going 

1 Consilium ordinarium convocation per Mandatarios del 16 Maxzio 1*64 
Archiv. btor Cai.it., Cred. I. vol. 22, fol. 68. 

2 Sittings of the nth Aug and 3rd Sept., 1565. Ibid, fol. 127, 135. Super negotio 
stampae et motu propno obtinendo in conjirmatione Societatis inite inter Po. 
Komanum et Pauluvi Mamctium. 

*K 3 . M r a ^ ti ? S s? ems A° ^ ave divided his attention between the press at Rome and 
mat ot # his family at Venice. His volume Epistolae et Praefationes was published 
at Venice m 1581. 1 he following editions of 1560, 1561, 1569 were also printed at 
Venice. Only one book by bim printed at Rome is known, Antiquitatuvi 
Romanorum Paula Manual liber de Civitate Romana, Romae ab Aldo tyfiis 
Francisci Zanetti. Jr 

J Sitting of the 13th Dec, 1565. Arch. Stor. Capit, Cred. I. vol. 6, p. 65. 
Klezione di Deputati a prendere il possesso di una casa posseduta da Paolo 
Manuzio nelRione Colonna. Council meeting of the 22nd Dec, 1565. Ibid., 
tol. 70 and following. ' 



Sittings of the 6th and 26th of April, 1566. Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 22, fol. 180, x8 
Council meeting of t u - 
Council meeting of t 
9 Ibid., vol. 24, fol. 81 



a £ ounc }\ me eting of the 7 th of May, '1566.' Ibid.\\o\. 100. 

rial meeting of the 9 th of July, 1568. Ibid., vol. 38, fol. 89. 



N 2 



180 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

"from bad to worse," it was decided to modify its organisation. 1 
Boccapaduli and two other Roman citizens had the mission 
conferred on them of negotiating an agreement with a book- 
seller, named Fabrizio Galletti, who was already, it seems, 
occupying himself with the printing-press, and who received 
the title of " governor." 2 One condition of the contract was 
that the books issued from his establishment should continue 
to bear the mention : In Aedibus Po. Romani. He was to 
keep eight presses at work, and to spend, in putting the con- 
cern into repair, a sum of eight thousand crowns. 3 In this 
year, and on the 30th of March, Marcello Alberini, who had 
been spoken of as lessee of the prison in the Capitol, was 
chosen director of the printing-house, together with Tommaso 
Cavalieri and Ascanio Cafifarelli. 4 

The Council showed themselves all the more disposed to 
make over the management of their printing-house, since the 
typesetters were claiming payment of their wages, which 
Manutius had been irregular in settling. The debt, indeed, was 
discharged by the Council, in spite of the commissaries' 
opposition. 5 

However, the printing-press continued to drag on its existence. 
It appears to have been employed in printing the works of 
writers, magistrates or ecclesiastics that the Council wished to 
oblige. On the 19th of December, 1570, they decided to print, 
at the Roman people's expense, an essay of the people's advo- 
cate, Gabriele Bari, entitled " De laudibus Romanorum et 
linguae latinaeT G 

Galletti's appointment as governor of the press did not put a 
stop to the trouble it caused the Communal Council ; far from it. 
A lawsuit began between Galletti and another bookseller, 
named Domenico Basa, who pretended to certain rights over 
the press ; and the Council were obliged to interfere. Cesare 
Gentile pleaded together with Basa. On the other hand, Paul 
Manutius claimed that he had made over half of his rights to 
the Commune's grant to the new nominee, and that compensa- 
tion was due to him. 7 The affair was further complicated by a 
claim from Galletti, who accused the Council of having em- 
ployed the funds intended for the printing-house to pay for the 
bringing of water to the Capitol. 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., vol. 24, fol. 148. Sitting of the 31st Jan., 1570. 

2 Decree of nomination, 3rd Feb., 1570; Bicci, Storia della Famiglia Boccapaduli ', 
Rome, 1762, p. 123. 

3 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 24, fol. 149; vol. 38, fol. 196. Sitting of the 
16th of March, 1570. 

4 Bicci, Notizia della Famiglia Boccapaduli, p. 134. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 24, fol. 156, 154. 

tt Ibid., vol. 38, fol. 245. Another document : ibid., vol. 38, fol. 289. 
7 Ibid., vol. 24, fol. 224. Galletti's claim dated the 2nd of Sept., 1570. 



PEOPLE'S PRINTING-HOUSE 181 

Meanwhile, Paul Manutius had abandoned all connection 
with the printing-house. He even quitted Rome and went to 
Venice ; but only for a time. Having returned to Rome, where 
Pope Gregory XIII. welcomed him, and where he published 
several works, while pursuing his Commentary on Cicero, he 
died there on the 6th of April, 1579. 1 

After much discussion, Galletti signed a lease, engaging to 
pay the City an annual quit-rent of fourteen hundred crowns ; 2 
and, after a minute inventory, the printing-plant was valued at 
10,226:63 crowns. 3 This notwithstanding, Basa did not allow 
the new governor to peaceably enjoy his privilege. He sug- 
gested to the booksellers of Rome that they should form a syn- 
dicate for the purpose of establishing a printing-press of their 
own. 4 This was only a threat. The booksellers' corporation 
had not the funds necessary for such an enterprise. Basa 
appears to have become reconciled to Galletti, and was appointed 
technical manager of the printing-house. 

In the year 1572, the whole question was reopened, because 
Pope Gregory XIII., who was elected on May the 19th, had not 
continued to the people's printing-house the monopoly of printing 
breviaries. The Council declared that the press should cease 
operations, if the old traditions were not reverted to. For the 
rest of the year, the Pope and the Council remained at logger- 
heads. 5 

The Council always appointed four commisaries whose office 
lasted for two years and who were renewed by twos. The juris- 
consult Luca Peto, who drew up the City statutes in 1580, was 
elected commissary in 1572. 6 Others were appointed in 1 578. r 
At this date, Blado's widow took possession of the printing-house. 
The Council granted her a credit of two hundred crowns. 8 

Pope Sixtus V., in 1587, greatly increased the development of 
the Vatican printing-press, the management of which he en- 
trusted to Domenico Basa, placing twenty thousand crowns at 
his disposal. Now, the Vatican press, which, shortly after, 

1 Articles quoted above and Efiistolarton Pauli Manutii Libri XII ; Lettere di 
Paolo Manuzio, Paris, Renouard, 1834. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 24, fol. 170. Sitting of the 3th of March, 
1570. Cf. what is said in the document of the 27th of April, 1571, mentioned 
below. 

3 Ibid., vol. 24, fol. 185. Sitting of the nth of April, 1570. 

4 Council meeting of the 27th of April, 1671, vol. 38, fol. 280, and vol. 25, fol. 60, 
same text. 

;5 Ibid., vol. 25, fol. 224, 226, 239. Sittings of the nth and 25th of Aug., ofthe 1st 
of Dec, 1572. 

6 The 22nd of April. Ibid., vol. 25, fol. 204. 7 Ibid., vol. 29, fol. 37. 

8 Council meeting ofthe 23rd of June, 1578. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, 
fol. 196. Books called for by public opinion were in process ofpublication. Council 
meeting of 16th May, 1576. De certis libris imfiri7iic?idis. Archiv. Stor. Capit., 
Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 37. De Duprimendis Testibus canonicis, Ib?'d n fol. 51. 



1 82 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

became the printing agency of the Propaganda, was used for the 
same functions as those assigned by previous Popes to the people's 
printing-house, viz., the publishing, in accordance with sound 
doctrine, of " the works of the Church Fathers, the holy books, 
the Saints' lives, the various acts and miracles, in order to uphold 
the weak, to heal the sick, and to snatch from darkness those 
that were walking therein." x 

This substitution dealt the last blow to the people's printing- 
house, which thenceforward went quickly to ruin. The com- 
missaries appointed by the Council were in despair, and resigned 
one after the other. 2 

In 1580, the City statutes had been printed by it, and, in 1586, 
the Council voted the printing of a life of St. Pius V., which 
nevertheless appeared in the same year, with the name of 
Vincenzo Accolti as printer. 3 

The last volume issued from the people's press seems to have 
been that of Statu ta nobilis Artis Agriculturae, printed in 1 C95. 4 

1 Bull "Earn semper" of the 27th of April, 1857. Erectio typografihiae Vaticanae. 
Cf. Moroni, Diz. di Enid., LXIX. 231, who mentions another Bull, il Romani 
Pontificis Providential dated the 1st of Feb., 1589, which is not found in the Mag- 
num Bullarium. In 1590, Clement VIII., in order to help Aldus Manutius, junior, 
entrusted him with the management of this press. Aldus Manutius had worked in 
Rome from 1562 till 1565 under his father's direction. He died in Rome on the 28th 
of Oct., 1597- 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 37; vol. 15, fol. 204, &c. 

3 Sitting of the 15th of Jan., 1586. Archiv. Stor Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 18. 
The title of the volume is : G. Catena, Vita di Pio V, Roma, nella Stamperia di 
Vincenzo Accolti, 1586, 4to. 

4 The edition of 1566 reads simply, " Romae " ; that of 1573, " In Aedibus Populi 
Romani" ; that of 1718, " Nella Stamperia delta R.C.A." (R ever enda Camera 
Apostolica). 




THE CAPITOL IN THE SEVEN- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 

The Palaces. 

After the completion of the great scheme undertaken in the 
latter part of the sixteenth century, the further realisation of 
Michael Angelo's designs was checked for a time. The 
Communal treasury was empty ; and the Council saw their 
authority diminishing from day to day. 

During the early years of the seventeenth century, we find 
mention only of some slight attempts at keeping what was 
already done in repair. A master mason received eighty crowns 
for working on the palace of the Conservators ; a carpenter, 
fifteen crowns ; a stone-cutter, seven and a half crowns ; 
another, fifty for repairs. The mason Rossi received twenty-five 
crowns for a balustrade to be built in front of the portico of the 
church of S. Maria Aracoeli. 1 

Still, there was urgent need for work of considerable importance 
to be undertaken. In 1604, it was perceived that the great hall 
of the Senatorial palace, the one in which the Senator held his 
audiences, was in imminent danger of collapsing. Aula palatii 
Dhi Senatoris maximum excidium minatur, declared the first 
Conservator to the assembled Council, which had been called 
together in , great haste. 2 The cause of the threatened falling 
in was the salt, which had been lying so long in the basement 
floor of the palace that it had imperceptibly eaten away the 
walls, the traces of its action being even now visible. There 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit. , Creel. VI. vol. 61, fol. 206 and following, year 1611. The 
expenses of the other years are insignificant. " The Capitol is beautiful to see," 
wrote the Prince of Conde in 1622 ; "on the right is the city hall ; the courtyard is full 
of ancient statues, and has a marble table of measures ; on the steps, in the rooms and 
chambers are many antique statues. Opposite is the Senator's abode, where there is 
only one fairly fine room." {Travels fin French), Paris, 1634, p. 133.) 

2 Secret Council meeting of the 16th of Dec, 1604. "Super excldio Aide 
Palatii" Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. 1. vol. 31, fol. 121. 



1 84 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

was no time to be lost. As funds were lacking, the Council 
decided to sell the Senatorial protonotary's office, for a period 
of three years. 1 However, the repairs they were able to make 
were insufficient ; and, in 1612, the task of under-propping had 
to be done over again. An inscription placed on the facade of 
the Senatorial palace attributes the honour of this operation 
to Paul V., whether it was that he paid the expenses or that he 
merely gave the requisite orders. 2 Even the latter repairs were 
inadequate ; for, in 1623, Gregory XV. was obliged to give 
instructions for fresh ones, as another inscription testifies. 3 

In 161 3, panes of glass were put in the windows of the 
palace of the Conservators, which previously had possessed 
only linen blinds, as was usual in Rome in the century before. 
The cost was twelve crowns. 4 The two groups of Castor and 
Pollux were restored. 5 In 1614, the statue of the Roman 
people was restored. 6 In 161 5, the question of finishing the 
inside decoration of the palace of the Conservators came up 
for consideration. Pope Paul V. granted the Communal Council 
a thousand crowns, so that they might have the room next the 
loggia, where the Conservators ate, hung with yellow and red 
damask. The ceiling was, at the same time, ornamented and 
decorated with the armorial bearings of the Pope and people. 7 
Silver plates and dishes were brought for the Conservators' 
use, which cost three hundred crowns. 8 On the other hand, 
something was done towards the laying out of the gardens 
behind the palace of the Conservators, on the Tarpeian Mount. 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 31, fol. 124. 

y Forcella, I. n, 113. 3 Forcella, I. n. 116. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, fol. 32. 

5 " Dal Campidoglio 10 Maggio 161 3. Sc. 10 a M. Filippo scultore a bon con to 
del restauro che fa del Gigantea capo alia scala di Campidoglio. . . . Sc. 10 a M. 
Filippo scultore a bon conto del restauro che fa alia statua di uno dei Giganti in 
capo alia scala delta piazza di Ca?npidoglio. Dal Campidoglio 15 lobre 1613. Sc. 
a bon conto a M. Filippo sctdtoi'e del restauro che fa alii cavalli di marmo e 
giganti a capo alia scala di Campidoglio, che cascavano." Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 61, 
fol. 230-240. *' Dal Campidoglio 14 Maggio 161 4. Sc. 12 a bon conto a M. Filippo 
scultore del restauro fatto e da farsi al gigante di marmo e cavallo a capo alia 
scala delta piazza di Campidoglio." Ibid., fol. 243. 

6 Under date of the 22nd of Sept., 1614 : " Sc . 22 a maestro Vincenzo Corallo 
scultore per risarcimento fatta alle statue del Po. Ro. in Campidoglio" Under 
date of the 15th of Dec, 16 r 4 : " Sc. 8:59 a Domenico Sensi Maestro di casa dei 
Conservatori per far restaurare le statue del Po. Ro. ed acquisto della testa di 
marmo di un putto." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 247, 250. 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 274 and following, fol. 288. Under 
date of the 30th of June, 1617 : " Sc. 22:40 a Cinzio Sabbatio recamatore per avere 

fatto sette armie del Papa col tri regno et chiave, e sctte del Po. Ro. recamate in oro 
...... messe nel par at o di damasco nella stanza di Campidoglio do7>e si mangia 

d'invemo." 

8 " Sc. 300 ad A nnibalePiuzzelli in conto a Maestro A mbrogio Pagano argoiticre 
al Pellegrino per quando gli consegnerd i piatti d argento che gli abbiamo ordinat? 
nuovi, e quelli vecchi restaurati. Dal Cajnpidoglio 6 Agosto 1616." Ibid., Cred. VI. 
vol. 61, fol. 275: "Sc. too ad A mbrogio Pagano argentiere al Pellegrino in conto 
dei piatti di argento fatti per it Campidoglio^ 28th Sept., 1616, fol. 278, 



THE PALACES 



185 



The architect, at that date employed by the Roman people, was 
Giovanni Antonio de Pomis, of Como. 1 

Under the pontificate of Urban VIII. (1623-1644) the inside 
decoration of the Senatorial palace was proceeded with. 2 

His successor, Innocent X., signalised his advent to power 
by ordering the works of the third palace to be resumed ; but, 
as he refused to help with the expenses incurred, the Communal 
Council were reduced to suppress most of the small posts 




FIG. 39. — ENGRAVING TAKEN FROM THE WORK OF MARLIANUS. 



created during the preceding half-century ; to wit, those of the 
guardians of the statues and antique objects, of the bell-ringers 
and trumpeters, not to mention those of several important 
magistracies, that of the flaaeri, of the syndics, of the reformers 
of studies, in short, as the chronicler says, nearly all the 
quarterly and even the annual posts. Alone, the Conservators 
and the caporioni continued in receipt of their salaries. 3 The 

1 He superintended the expenses incurred for the installation of the conclave of 
1605. Bertolotti, Artisti Lnmbardi ', II. 6. It will be remembered that there was 
an exchange of land, in connection with this, between the Roman people and the 
Caffarelli family. 2 Forcella, I. n. 118. 

•°* " Nel 1644, il papa (Jnnocento JT) ordino, che in Campidoglio incontro al 
palazr.o dei Conservatori sifacesse un portico, del quale erano gia da un pezzofatti 
li fondarnenti ; via per fare tale edificio non gli assegno pure tin quatrino. 
Furono levate le provisioni a molti, che avevano divers offizii, come custodi delle 
statue, delle fabriche antiche ed altri, che li avevano comprati con i suoi denari ; 
furono annullati li offizii di Pacieri, Sindaci e Riformatori dello Studio, et simili 



1 86 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

classes even were suspended which were held for the benefit of 
the poor children in the fourteen quarters of the City, although 
the teachers only received thirty crowns a year. 1 But, while 
giving nothing towards the building of the new palace, 
Innocent X. took great interest in its progress. On the 9th of 
March, 1650, he came to ascertain what had been done. A 
statue was raised to him subsequently, beside that of Urban 
VIII., to commemorate this event. 2 

He came again on the 1st of August, 1654 ; 3 and an inscrip- 
tion placed hi the room of the She-Wolf recorded the interest 
and the indirect share he had taken in the construction of the 
new palace. 4 $ On the latter occasion, the rubbish had been 
cleared away from the palace of the Conservators, and the hall 
had been put tidy "where the cannon requisites were kept" as 
well as the cannons themselves. 5 

Meanwhile, the penury of the Communal treasury was such 
that it had great difficulty in paying for the work to go on, the 
more so as the total expenditure exceeded eighty thousand 
crowns, of which the master mason, Ludovico Rossi, received, 
as his share, twenty-four thousand. 6 Carlo Rinaldi was the 
architect entrusted by the Council with the oversight of the 
undertaking. 

The exterior portion was completed in 1655. Towards the 
last, the work had been pushed on vigorously, and the new 
palace was ready, when Pope Alexander VII., who was elected on 
the 7th of April, came, according to custom, to receive at the 
Capitol the City magistrates' homage. The Communal Council 
had had the Square cleared for the ceremony, the labour re- 

altri offiziali che si creavano ogni anno, et ogni tre 7iiesi et avevano le loro provi- 
sioni et massime li Marescialli, et restomo solo i Conservator i e Caporioni" 
Diario di Giacinto Gigli, Cod. Vat. 8717, p. 289. This suppression did not last 
long ; some years after, the employees of the Capitol were more numerous than 
ever. 1 Gigli. See note 4. 

2 " Ai 9 Marzo 1650, dopo pranzo, Innocenzo X ando a s. Francesca in s. Maria 
Nuova, e poi sali alCampidoglio a vedere il portico nuovo, che era quasi finitodalla 
banda di Araceli. La sua statuafu alzata sopra un piedistallo di mattoni in- 
contro a quella di Urbano VIII." Ibid. See p. 189. 

3 " II 1 Agosto 1654 a ^ e ore 2I undo in Campidoglio per vedere il palazzo nuovo, 
che si e fabricato verso Araceli, et entro priina nel palazzo vecchio dei Conservator i 
e poi ando a vedere lafabrica nuova la quale si erafatta dordine suo, ma non gia 
dei suoi denari, perche non ha dato neppure un quatrino, ma con li emolumentiche 
si davano a molti offiziali Romani . . . etfii sce7iiata la provisione dei Lettnri 
delta Sapienza, et levato affatto, il salario di scudi 30 V anno che il Po. Ro. dava 
a ciascun Maestro di scuola, che erano quattordici, li quali jnaestri erano obligati 
dinsegnare le prime lettere colla grammatica alti poveri senza pagamento. Cosi 
furono levati gli emohtmenti a molti gentiluomini per offizi comprati, li quali per 
un pezzo si dolsero e lamentarono." Ibid. 

4 Forcella, I. n. 152. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 1, fol. 177, 27 Sept. 

6 At least, such was the amount of the sums deposited for the purpose at the 
State pawn establishment during the years 1645-1655 ; exactly sc. 79,492:36. 
Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 301 and following. 



THE PALACES 187 

quired for the task being considerable, 1 since seventy-two cart- 
loads of rubbish were taken from it and thrown into the river. 2 
At the same time, the cornices of the Senatorial palace were 
repaired, and the staircase and fountains, as well as the gaps in 
the balustrade. This was the usual accompaniment of public 
solemnities. 

However, after this effort, the Council were not willing to do 
anything more, and contented themselves with strengthening the 
iron fastenings of the bells in the Campanile, an operation that 
cost 347:48 crowns (1566). 3 

In the palace courtyard, at the further end of which had been 
placed the statue of Marforio, are three inscriptions, two of 
them recording gifts made to the Capitoline museums by 
Alexander VII. and Clement XII. ; 4 the third one is in honour 
of Gregory XVI. 

The interior decoration of the new palace was commenced 
only in the pontificate of Clement X. (1 670-1 676). Walnut 
soffits were placed in the chief rooms. That of the great hall 
was decorated with the coat of arms of the then reigning Pope ; 
in another were seen the arms of his predecessor, Alexander 
VII.; the expense amounted to 6,922:90 crowns. 5 It was 
during the reign of this Pope, in 1673, tnat the colossal head of 
Domitian was taken away from the place it had occupied for 
more than a century, under the portico of the palace of the 
Conservators, and transported into the inner courtyard, where 
it is at present. 6 In 1683, the staircase formerly leading to the 
prisons and now giving access to the municipal offices on the 
side towards the Via Capitolina, underwent some alteration ; 
it only cost, indeed, 3:75 crowns, although rather a complicated 
job. 7 In 1689, it was found necessary to revarnish several of 
the frescoes painted by the Chevalier of Arpino, among others 

1 Although it had been forbidden to throw rubbish there. Disposizioni edilizie 
circa la piazza di Campidoglio. Editto. Di Orazio Albani . . . Senatore di Roma. 
Ordiniamo che nessuna persona ardisca buttar sassi, fango el altre i7iimondizie 
tanto attorno alia fontana di Marforio quanto in guella sulla piazza di Cam- 
pidoglio sotto la scalinala, sotto pena di sc. 25 d applicarsi alia Camera di Ca7ii- 
pidoglio, e tre tatti di corda da darglisi subito in publico per ciascuna volta ed 
altre pene a nostro arbitrio. — JVessuno ardisca 7iiurare le parate fatte nellabalatis- 
trata del nostro Palazzo, sotto le dette pene. Bibl. Casanat. Collez. Bandi, VI. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 1, fol. 210. Lavori fatti sulla piazza di 
Campidoglio in occasione del Possesso di N. S. A lessandro VII da Gio. Batta. 
Torrone Capo Mastro dell' Inclito Po. Ro7iiano. Total expense, 59:20 crowns. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 1, fol. 219. 

4 They are the inscriptions mentioned by Forcella, n. 157, 231, 377. 

5 Soi7U7iario delle 77tisure e sti77ie di lavori e Ieg7ia77ie, i7itagli, lavori di noce per 
porte,fenestre e soffitte del Salo7ie e sta7ize delta fabric a nuova di Campidoglio fatti 
a tutta roba efattura del Sig7iore Giovaimi Bartolo77iei, e 77iisurati da 77ie infra- 
scito a7-chitetto d , o?-dine del Cardinal e Celsi. (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cre<h VI. 
vol. 4, fol. 16.) 6 See p. 199, note 3, and p. 214. 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 6, fol. 148. 



1 88 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

those that represented the fight of the Horatii, the sacrifice of 
Numa,the foundation of Rome. From eight to twelve crowns were 
paid for each picture. In 1693, a cyma and a balustrade had 
to be replaced in the palace of the Conservators, the materials 
for which were taken from the Coliseum. 1 The work was 
supervised by Filippo Tittoni, the people's architect. In 1699, 
the Communal Council were informed that one of the towers of 
the Senatorial palace, that bearing the name of Nicholas V., 
which was nearest the Arch of Septimus Severus, had a serious 
crack in it. The tower was, at that time, said to be the most 
ancient. Commissaries went and examined the crack ; and 
they found that it must have existed for a long time. Neverthe- 
less, as the Senator's dwelling was in the same part of the 
palace, the necessary repairs were decided on. 2 



Honorific Statues erected in the Seventeenth 
Century. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, a decree had 
confirmed the prohibition then recently issued against raising 
statues to living princes. 3 The Councillors, however, were 
much annoyed at not being able to pay this favourite homage 
to sovereign pontiffs. When their meeting-chamber was 
decorated, they profited by the occasion to have the brass plate 
on which was engraven the text of the decree removed elsewhere ; 
it was placed above the door, far from public gaze; but the pro- 
hibition none the less existed. In 1626, they begged permission 
to suppress the plate altogether; but no heed was paid to their 
request. 4 Then they bethought themselves that, in order to 
triumph over a difficulty, there is no better way than to keep 
pegging away at it, and undermine it. They, therefore, asked 
the Pope to put up in the Capitol an inscription recording the 
services rendered by his nephew, Taddeo Barberini, the 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 7, fol. 193. Conto di lavori di scarpello 
fatti da A7itonio Ferretti capo M astro Sarpellino e Gasper o Mellini Scarpellino 

del Po. Ro. nei Palazzi di detto Popolo. . Ibid., vol. 8, fol. 196. 

2 Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 41, fol. 37, 38. It is seen by the inscription Forcella, I. 
11. 191, that Pope Innocent XII. took to himself the credit of a great share in the 
restoration of the Capitol. 

3 A little before it was promulgated, in 1602, a statue had been raised to 
Cardinal Aldobrandini. Inscription engraven on its base. Forcella, I. n. 109. In 
the preceding year an inscription had been put up in the great hall of the palace of 
the Conservators. Forcella, I. n. 108. 

4 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 23. Pope Urban VIII. had refused 
a statue which it was purposed to place in the church of S. Maria A.racoeli. Diario 
di Giac, Gigli, Cod. Vat., 8717, fol. 146, 



HONORIFIC S TA TUBS 1 89 

prefect of the City (1631). 1 This was granted them. Being 
emboldened thereby, the Councillors represented to the 
sovereign pontiff " that a positive law could not detract from the 
law of nature commanding gratitude," and that it was cruel to 
oblige them to show themselves ungrateful, out of respect 
to a decree. The Pope allowed himself to be persuaded. In 
the sitting of the 23rd of June, 1634, they were able to vote, with 
his assent, the removal of the plate restraining the Councillors 
from the free exercise of their sentiments of gratitude. 2 Urban 
VIII., in consequence, had his statue, which was in brass. 3 As a 
matter of fact, two years before, the inhabitants of Velletri had 
sent to Rome a statue of the Pope, which they had modelled 
in order to thank him for raising to the cardinalate their 
fellow-citizen, Cardinal Mario Ginetti. 4 It seems, however, that 
there was some apprehension about the erection of the one 
awarded to him by the Council, since it was brought to the 
Capitol by night, and lighted by torches. 5 Innocent X., in turn, 
had his statue. 6 

In 1697, the Communal Council voted the erection of a statue 
to Pope Alexander VII., u in testimony of his merit and his 
beneficence towards the people." A Councillor proposed it 
should be in gold, as then only would it be worthy of its object ; 
whereon another Councillor declared that, in diamond, and 
ornamented with jewels, it would still be unworthy. The Pope, 
with wit enough, replied that it sufficed him his image should 
be engraven in the hearts of his subjects. Nevertheless, they made 
him a statue, but of bronze. 7 Innocent XII. had his also, which 
was erected shortly after his accession, in 1 692. 8 The installation 
of a statue took place with much pomp. It was clad in garments 

1 Brief of Urban VIII. " Super licentia concessa C onservatoribus et Priori ponendi 

mcni)uentum lapidettm i)i Capitolio congratulations Praefecturae Urbis per 
Sanctitatem suam collatae Ex7iio. D. Duo. Thadeo Barberino. Cum sicut dilecti 
filii . . . Rome XIX gbris, 1631." Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 94. 

- " De amovendo lapideo decreti monumento prohibens ne verba Jzant de faciendis 
inscriptionibus ; sive statuis erigendis 7'iventi Principi, aut ejus sanguine coniunctis, 
illoqzte moderando alioqtie reponendo. Ex S. C. viva voce approbatum fuit." 
Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 127. 

3 " De statua Urbani VIII in Capitolio erigeuda. Consiglio del i3 Giugno. 
1640. Lccto decreto secreti Consilii de stattia Urbani VIII in Capitolio erigeuda. 

. . Decretum prefattcjn vwa voce confirmation cojuprobatumque fuit." Ibid., 
Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 221. The Brief is in ibid., Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 126, 127. 
Inscription engraven on the socle. Forcella, I. n. 126. 

4 Diario di G. Gigli, Cod. Vat., 8717, p. 132. 

5 Diario di G. Gigli, Cod. Vat., 8717, p. 204. 

6 Council meeting of the 18th of March, 1645. " De statua aenea Innocentio X. 
Pont. Opt. Max. in Capitolio erigeuda." Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 34, 
fol. 64. Inscription placed on the socle. Forcella, I. n. 142. 

7 Secret Council meeting of the 5th of April, 1657. Arch. Stor. Capit. , Cred. I. 
vol. 34, fol. 184 and 187. Cf. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Notari della Camera dei 
Conservatori, vol. 4, fol. 99 and following. Inscription placed on the pedestal. 
Forcella, I. n. 157. 8 With the inscription. Forcella, I. n. 191. 



190 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

suitable to its rank, and magnificent in texture. All the 
nobility, the municipal magistrates, and the militia were invited; 
and it was received with salvoes of artillery, and to the sound of 
trumpets. 1 

The Popes at the Capitol. 2 

For the consecration of Leo XI. the triumphal arch, still 
placed at the same spot, was adorned with eight statues and 
the Pope's armorial bearings, the latter painted in gold by the 
artist Giuseppe d'Arpino, the Chevalier of Arpino (1605). For 
the consecration of Paul V., which took place a month after 
(17th of April — 10th of May), the Romans made two arches. 
The first, set up near the church of the Gesu, was formed of 
pillars in imitation of yellow marble, terminated by capitals 
which were painted bronze colour. The second, set up near the 
Capitol, was composed of four pillars surmounted by gilded 
capitals. The people's coat of arms and statues were its 
decoration. In 1621, on the occasion of the coronation of 
Gregory XV., an arch in wood and canvas was built, which was 
supported by twelve fluted pillars of white and gold. On it were 
twenty stucco statues and allegorical paintings. After the 
accession of Urban VIII. (1623), panegyrical inscriptions 
always figured in the decorations ; and soon they were inserted 
lavishly. The two sphinxes, situated at the bottom of the grand 
staircase, spouted wine from their nostrils, which phenomenon 
became also one of the invariable elements in the decorations. 
When Innocent X. came to the Capitol, the Senator Orazio 
Albani, clad in his long to#a, advanced towards him and kissed 
his foot ; then he offered him all the keys of the Capitol. At 
the same time, the new coinage, with the Pope's effigy on it, was 
distributed to the people, who crowded the Square and the 
approaches to the palace (1644). 

The expenses of this ceremony grew so heavy for the people 
that Alexander VII. would not allow the Capitol to be decorated, 
when he paid his visit to receive the municipalitv's homage 

(1655). 

The proceedings, however, recovered their magnificence, 
when Clement IX. was crowned. Not only was money dis- 
tributed, while wine flowed abundantly, but bread was also 
given to the needy by the Conservators. The arch raised in 
honour of Clement X. was exceedingly costly ; fourteen 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 33, fol. 219 ; Cod. Vat. Lat., 7927, c. 103, 
no ; Cod. Casanatense, 983, p. iii. 

2 For general information, see Cancellieri, Storia de Solenni Possess/, Rome, 
1822. 



THE POPES A T THE CAPITOL 



191 



thousand leaves of gold were used to gild it, the price of which 
was 56 crowns; and the total expenses amounted to 221 
crowns. 1 The new palace was decorated both inside and 
outside. 2 

The pause of the procession at the Capitol acquired more 
and more importance in the consecration ceremony. At the 
coronation of Clement XL, the imperial ambassador (representing 




FIG. 40. — THE CAPITOL AND CHURCH OF S. MARIA ARACOELI. 
(FROM AN ENGRAVING OF THE CABINET OF PRINTS.) 



the Emperor of Germany) took his place at the bottom of the 
palace steps ; and the Queen of Poland, the eccentric Maria 
Kasimire, was under a rich baldachin, at the middle window of 
the new palace ; she wore a mask and uncovered herself only 
when the sovereign pontiff passed by ( 1 700). For the coronation 
of Innocent XIII., the facade of the two palaces of the 
Conservators, and that of the Senator also, were adorned with 

1 Archiv. Stor Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 4, fol. 28. 

2 Ibid., fol. 16. As the Commune possessed no baldachin, one was hired from the 
Colonna family ; its carriage cost 20 bols. {ibid., fol. 223). 



192 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

statues representing the principal provinces belonging to the 
Papal States, the Emilian, the Sabine, those of Picenum and 
Umbria, of Bologna, Ferrara and Urbinum, together with the 
Comtat Venaissin. 

The ceremony was continued in the following century with 
the same forms. The Senator, or, in default of him, one of the 
assessor judges conveyed to the Pope the Roman people's 
submission ; and the Pope, after giving the people his benediction, 
pursued his journey to the Lateran. Sometimes the militia fired 
a salvo with their mortars, and the drums of the Senate rolled 
(1721). The palaces were illuminated for the consecration of 
Benedict XIII. (1724). The formula employed by Clement XIV., 
in 1769, when accepting the Senator's homage, was the following, 
which had become almost hieratic : " Fidelitatem et obediential 
a te, nostre Urbis Scnatore, Po. Ro. nomine, Nobis exhibitam, 
acceptamns, tibique 710 strain ap. bejiedictionem impartimur? 



The Taking-possession of the Capitol by the 
Senators. 

The same thing happened with regard to the taking-possession 
of the Capitol by the Senators newly appointed as with the 
reception of the Popes at their coronation. The ceremony, 
which in earlier times was very simple, subsequently became 
lavishly magnificent. 

When Antonio of Grassis, surnamed Baccellieri, entered on 
his magistracy, he mounted to the Capitol, without any pomp 
whatsoever, as was customary, sine ullo (niillo) honore id more 
est (1414). 1 In the ensuing century, things had considerably 
changed. Before taking office, Giulio Cesare Segni of Bologna 
went with a numerous procession to kiss the Pope's foot. 
Noblemen, fully armed, and bearing their shields, followed him, 
on fine steeds ; and, in front of him, were carried the standards 
of the Capitol. After doing homage to the sovereign pontiff, he 
came to the Capitol and was duly installed in the magistracy 
that had been confided to his charge (28th of May, 1580). 2 

On the 1 2th of June, 1585, Giovanni Pelicano of Macerata 
made his first entry into the Capitol, escorted by six hundred 
horsemen, which was a sight that had never been seen before, 
says the narrator. 3 

However, the ceremony did not assume its definite character 
until the seventeenth century. The taking-possession by Gio. 

1 Diario di Antonio Petri ; Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 1040, 1041. _ 

2 Cod. Vat. Urb., 1048, ad an. The text does not say what were the details in 
the taking-possession on this occasion. 3 Cod. Vat. Urb., 1053, ad an. 



THE SENATORS AT THE CAPITOL 193 

Batta. Fenzonio was similar to the entry of an ambassador. 
Fenzonio presented himself at the Flaminian Gate, which is the 
Del popolo Gate of to-day, and went along the Corso through 
the whole of the City, on his way to the Capitol. Accompanying 
him was a pompous cavalcade (1616). 1 Baldo Massei of 
Camerino entered by the Pia Gate, went along the Monte 
Cavallo and the Corso, and approached the Capitol by the steps. 
His procession is minutely described by Gigli. 2 At the head 
came the Artisti? In their joy to bear arms, which happened 
to them very seldom, in spite of their military organisaton, they 
fired off arquebusades all along the way, and made their drums 
rattle again. Their standard was borne amidst a group provided 
w ith pikes ; behind came the trumpeters and ten coaches, then 
the Pope's light horse, then ten saddle-horses led by the bridle, 
and, after these, a multitude of citizens surrounding the two 
red banners of the people. The Senator, clad in his gala costume, 
came last, escorted by mounted noblemen (1623). 

Ten years later, in 1633, on the installation of Orazio Albani 
of Urbinum, the procession became a veritable triumph. It 
started from the Monte Cavallo, where the Senator had pre- 
viously proceeded to do homage to the Pope and receive investi- 
ture in his office, and went along the whole of the Corso, before 
entering the Capitol. The people's militia, the artisti, marched 
in front ; they had plumes on, and their garments were striped 
with red and yellow ; they carried swords and arquebuses. 
Behind them, came a body of pikemen with a red standard, a 
body of arquebusiers with six drums, the light horse with their 
trumpets, thirty-six coaches, with the Senator's coat of arms, 
driven by red-liveried servitors, ten horses led by the bridle and 
wearing silk caparisons embroidered with the Senator's coat of 
arms. Next marched the trumpeters and drummers of the 
people, having in their midst two standards, bearing the City 
coat of arms, which were carried by mounted guards ; two 
pages on horseback held, the one the Senator's staff, the other 
his biretta. The Senator himself came after, clad in his gold 
brocade mantle and escorted by the Swiss guard. The City 
mortars saluted his arrival ; and the Conservators awaited him 
in the great hall, hung with tapestry, where he took the usual 
oath at their hands. The bells, meanwhile, rang out a full 
peal. 4 

1 Cancellieri, Le due Cajiifiane, p. 116. 

a Diario di Giacinto Gigli, Cod. Vat., 8717, p. 60 ; cf. p. 287. 

3 These Artisti were a militia called by this name because it was formed of 
artisans. It served as a guard to the caporioni, or heads of the various City wards ; 
but the men composing it were forbidden to bear arms except on parade, when the 
Holy See was vacant, and on the installation of the caporioni, who were changed 
every three months. 

4 Cancellieri, Le due Camfiane, p. 117 and following, for all that precedes. 

O 



194 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The expense incurred by the Senator, on this occasion, was 
estimated at three thousand crowns. His costume alone, exclu- 
sive of the gold collar he must have worn round his neck, cost 
two hundred crowns. For this reason, it happened more than 
once, when the newly elected Senator was not a wealthy man, 
that the taking-possession was celebrated without pomp of any 
kind ; for instance, in 1646 and 1655. 1 

The installation of the Senators, up to the year 1789, was 
marked by practically the same sort of ceremonial. 2 

On the 2 1 st of June, 17 18, Prince Tommaso Corsini took 
possession of the Capitol in the following manner. About four 
o'clock, he proceeded to the Quirinal privately, and there 
received, in the room called the hall of the congregations, the 
compliments of the various ambassadors, and of the chief 
Roman citizens, including the noblemen sent by the Cardinals 
to represent them. After, he accompanied the masters of the 
ceremony into the pontifical apartments. Being informed of 
his presence, Pius VII. issued from his own chamber, wearing 
a rochet and a bishop's camail, sat down on his throne, 
with the major-domo and the Maestro di Camera at his side, 
and received the oath of fidelity and obedience sworn by the 
Senator kneeling. Then, handing him the ivory sceptre, as a 
symbol of the Senatorial judiciary authority and power, he 
blessed him and withdrew. The Senator, thereupon, took his 
place in the cavalcade which should conduct him to the Capitol. 
At the head marched a picket of carbineers, on horseback, 
whose duty was to clear the way ; then came the ambassadors' 
and foreign ministers' coaches, a brigade of firemen, with their 
captain on horseback, a battalion of grenadiers preceded by 
their drummers, the people's trumpeters and drummers, who 
formed a corporation, the captain of the militia of the Capitol, 
on horseback, with his adjutant and a group of non-commissioned 
officers ; the militia of the fourteen City wards followed, bearing 
their standards and marching before the ten horses of the 
Senator and his twenty coaches ; two squadrons of dragoons 
and two companies of carbineers escorted them ; then there 
were the Cardinals' grooms, on horseback, and with the red hat 
on their shoulders, the runners of the Capitoline Curia and the 

1 Indeed, at this period, the Communal treasury was very poor. It will be 
remembered that, in this same year, 1655, Pope Alexander VII. permitted that there 
should be no decorations at his coronation. See p. 190. 

2 They are described in small pamphlets published after the ceremony. Canani, 
Giulio Cesare, Descrizione della cavalcata fatta dal senator e di Roma Giulio 
Cesar e Nigrelli, Rome, 1662; Esatta descrizione della cavalcata fatta il \ Nov., 
1691, dal senatore di Ro7na marchese Ottavio Riario, Rome, 1691 ; Distinta 
Relazione della nobilissima cavalcata fatta in occasione del possess o del senatore 
di Roma Frangiftane, Rome, 1712, &c. For general information, see Cancellieri ; 
Moroni, Diz. di Erudiz., X. 312 ; Diario del CHRACAS, no. 3085, an. 1737. 



FESTIVITIES HELD IN THE CAPITOL 195 

Cardinals' gentlemen, the honorary chamberlains and the privy 
chamberlains both of sword and gown, on horseback ; the 
Capitoline band of music and a mounted page with the 
Senator's portmanteau; 1 two other pages, one carrying the 
people's standard, the other, the Senator's ; the captain of the 
Swiss guards, two other pages of the Senator, one with his 
biretta, the other with his staff; then, last of all, the Senator 
himself, in a red mantle with the gold collar round his neck ; 
his horse was caparisoned with red velvet, some woofs of it 
being gold ; and he was surrounded by the fedeli and the 
Swiss guard ; while the first and second assessor judges, the 
auditor, and the various members of his tribunal made up his 
escort. On reaching the Square of the Capitol, the Senator 
first entered the church of S. Maria Aracoeli, where he prayed 
and offered four silver reliquaries, after which he proceeded to 
the great hall of the palace. The three Conservators and the 
prior of the caporio?ii had come to meet him as far as the end 
of the double staircase leading to the entrance. Tne s crib a 
se?iato read aloud the Brief committing the magistracy to his 
charge, as well as the oath he was to swear to the people. 
Then the Senator descended from th tnrone on which he had 
sat himself, and, with bended knee, took the oath and touched 
the Gospels. This being performed, the first of the Conservators 
made him a speech, to which he replied ; and the ceremony was 
concluded with a banquet. The Capitol was illuminated, 
fireworks were let off, and, for two days, the sphinxes, as was 
the custom, spouted wine from their nostrils. 2 

From the foregoing description it may be judged that the 
taking-possession by the Senators had singularly changed its 
character ; and the Roman people, meagrely represented, 
figured in the ceremony only as a matter of form. 



Festivities held in the Capitol in the Seventeenth 

Century. 

The custom of giving theatrical performances in the Capitol, 
which, as has been seen, arose in the sixteenth century, became 
more frequent in the next one. These performances took place 

iin the palace of the Conservators, on the occasion of the Carni- 
val, and were generally interspersed with interludes, which 
were the sine qua ?ion of most theatrical plays of that time. 3 

1 At Rome, from the Middle Ages, in all ceremonies of this kind, the 
portmanteau played apart. It was usually red, and, as belonging to the person in 
whose honour the fete was held, the carrying of it was a privilege. 

2 Moroni, Diz. di Erud., X. 3^. 

3 Cod. Vat. Urb., 1098, 16 Feb., 1628; cf. MS. Angelica, 325, Diario, ad diem. 

O 2 



196 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The great personages who came to Rome did not fail to visit 
the Capitol, and were received there in state. Such visits were 
accompanied with festivities ; and inscriptions were put up by 
the Municipality in commemoration of events of the kind. The 
Queen of Sweden had this honour, after the visit she paid to 
the Capitol, in 1656, 1 as did also the Queen of Poland, Maria 
Kasimire, in 1700. 2 The two commemorative tablets were 
placed, with busts, in the great hall of the Conservators. Other 
personages, less illustrious, were, as will be seen, so honoured 
in the following century. 

Whenever a new ambassador made his entry into Rome, he 
never omitted going to the Capitol ; and the Conservators 
returned his visit, clad in their purple robe. This was 
the case with the Duke of Parma's ambassador in 1669. 
The Capitoline magistrates received him at the top of the 
grand staircase ; he visited the museum ; and, a thing which 
was unprecedented, the bell of the Capitol was rung in his 
honour. As the Conservators possessed no coaches, they were 
obliged, in returning his visit, to borrow those of the " Con- 
stable," Prince Colonna. 3 

In 1686, a fete was given on the occasion of the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes. The Capitol was illuminated per le 
allegrezze della Francia in occasione che sua Maestd scaccio 
VUgonotti dal sno Reg?io ; the expenses amounted to nearly 
five crowns. 4 

1 Forcella, I. n. 156. The fixing of this tablet cost 121 crowns. The Conservators 
and the Council were careful to record in this inscription that they had received the 
Queen with their hats on. Six .months' negotiations were needed to persuade her 
not to dispute with the Capitoline magistrates a privilege which they had long 
insisted on. 2 Forcella, I. n. 200. 

y The reference is to the Constable of Naples, husband to Marie Mancini. 
(Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XI. vol. 22, fol.^i.) The Communal Council had refused 
to provide the Conservators with coaches, but had granted them horses in the 
sitting of the 7th of May, 1583. {Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 28, fol. 163.) There was the 
same ceremonial in 1671 and 1695. {Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 9, fol. 129.) Not until 1749 
were the Conservators able to procure themselves coaches ; and even then they were 
obliged to deduct from the fetes fund the necessary money to pay off the bill, which 
amounted to six thousand crowns. The Pope ordered that for sixteen years the 
banquets should be suppressed which were given each time a new series of magistrates 
entered into office ; these banquets cost 380 crowns. (Archivio Stor. Capit., 
Cred. VII. vol. 40, fol. 400.) The coach brought was gilded and covered with slate- 
blue velvet ; but, as the Municipality had no coach-houses, it had to be housed at 
the Farnese palace with four others that were brought later from the Venetian 
ambassador. {Ibid., fol. 404, 407.) Clement XIII. (1758) re-established the banquet- 
grant, but only impart ; and the Conservators were obliged to wait for the pontificate 
of Pius VII., in 1804, to make as good cheer as they once did. {Ibid., Cred. XVIII. 
vol. 32, fol. 205.) 

4 Bill of the expenses. (Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 6, fol. 232.) After 
. comes the specification of the expenses incurred on the occasion of the peace 
of Buda. An inscription had been placed on the facade of the Senatorial palace at 
the time of the abjuration of Henry IV. Forcella, I. n. 104. Another inscription 
recorded the advice and the subsidies by which Pope Innocent V. had helped to defeat 
the Turks before Vienna. Forcella, I. n. 180. 



FORMATION OF THE MUSEUMS 197 



Formation of the Capitoline Museums. 

origin. 

The definite establishment of the Capitoline museums took 
place in the seventeenth century ; but their origin dates much 
farther back. 1 

In the Middle Ages, the Capitol possessed no other monu- 
ment of antiquity than the marble lion which was used in 
executions and two funeral urns. 2 These latter had formerly 
contained the ashes of the first Agrippina, wife to Germanicus, 
and of her eldest son, Nero Caesar, both of whom had died in 
exile, and whose bodies had been brought back to Rome and 
placed, by order of Caligula, in the family mausoleum of 
Augustus. Owing to a strange concurrence of circumstances, 
these urns were brought together to the Capitol, at a date 
unknown, but anterior to the fourteenth century, in order to be 
used as measures of capacity. 3 It was perhaps about the time 

1 A. Michaelis has devoted a thorough study to the Capitoline museums, Storia 
della collezione capitolina di antichitd fino all' inaugurazione del museo (1784), in 
the Mittheilungen des K. Deutschen archeol. Instituts, Roemische Abtheilung, 
B. VI. Rome, 1891. See also : Ulisse Aldroandi or Aldrovandi, Delle Statue antiche, 
p. 168 ; Boissard, Romanae Urbis Tofiog. et Antiquitates, Frankfort, 1 507-1602 ; 
Museo Capitolino, per cura di Giovanni Bottari and Nicola Foggini, Rome, 
1741-1782 ; 348 engravings ; Campiglia, Museum Capitolinum, Rome, 1750-1755, 
3 vols, in fol. ; the Count de Clarac, Museum of Sculpture (in French), Paris, 1841 ; 
Gaddi, Museo Capitolino, 1750, 4to ; 1775,^0 ; B. Gamucci, Le Antichita della Citta 
di Roma, 1580, fol. 20, v. ; Francesco Eugenio Guasco, Musei Capitolini Antiquae 
Inscriptiones, Rome, 1775 ; Helbig, Fiihrer durch die Sa7n?nlungen it las. 
Altertiimer in Rom. Leipzig, 1st edit., 1891, translated into French by J. Toutain, 
Leipzig, 1893 ; 2nd edit., 1899 ; Lanciani, Scavi, II. 77 and following ; G. Locatelli, 
Museo capitolina o sia Descrizione delle statue . . . Rome, 1771 ; Lucio Mauro, 
Le Antichita de la Citta. di Roma, 1556, p. 11 ; Montagnani-Mirabili, Pietro 
Paolo, II Museo Capitolino, Rome, 1828 ; Mosi, Scultore del Museo Capitolino, 1806 ; 
Mtintz, The Museum of the Capitol and the other Roman collections (in French), 
Paris, 1882 ; Righetti, Descrizione del Campidoglio, Rome, 1833 ; Agostino 
Tofanelli, Indicazione delle sculture e pitture di Campidoglio, Rome, 1825 ; French 
edition published by his son in 1821 and 1335 ; Flaminio Vacca, Memorie di Varie 
Antichita . . . nell anno 1594, Rome, 1704, being a sequel to the Roma antica of 
Nardini, Rome, 1704 ; Andrea di Vaccaria, Ornamenti di Fabriche, 1600 ; S. Wood, 
The Capitoline Museum of Sculpture, London, 1872 ; Descrizione delle statue 
bassirilievi . . . che si custodiscono ne' Pallazzi di Campidoglio, Rome, 1775; British 
Museum, under the catalogue heading 7807, a, 8, with notes, MS. ; Nuova 
Descriz. del Museo Capitolino compilata per cura della Com. Arch., 1882. The 
last catalogue of the Museum of the Capitol dates back to 1888. None exists for 
the Museum of the Conservators. At present, indeed, these two museums are being 
overhauled ; that of the Conservators has been turned upside down. See 
R. Lanciani, // Nuovo Ordinamento del Museo nel Palazzo dei Conservatori, 
Rome, 1904. 

2 Poggio said that, in his time, there existed only six ancient statues in Rome. 
On the contrary, Petrarch had seen "innumerable ones." M. de Clarac, t. III., 
endeavours to throw light on this contradiction, which may be explained more by the 
turn of mind of the two writers than by reality. 

3 In a description of Rome, Descriptio urbis Romae ejusque excellentia, 
composed between 1344 and 1347, and wrongly attributed to Cola di Rienzo (Cod. 



198 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

when a market was established on the Square. The archaic 
character of the inscription engraven on the bottom part, 
RVGITELLA DE GRANO, confirms this hypothesis. 1 On 
one side of one of the urns, there was carved, about the fourteenth 
century, the effigy of a soldier of the Roman militia, Xheftavestore. 
It is the only representation that has come down to us of their 
accoutrement. Other standard measures were also in the 
Capitol ; those for oil and wine among them. 2 There was, 
besides, a measure on which were placed the fish that arrived 
at the market ; those that were longer than the measure had 
the head cut off, and the head belonged by right to the 
Conservators. 3 

In the seventeenth century, a long inscription, surrounded 
with the armorial bearings of the magistrates in office, 
was engraven on the pedestal that supported the urns at that 
time. 4 

Owing to a confusion that was bound to occur, the people 
thought one of these urns had contained the remains of the 
Emperor Nero, instead of those of Nero Caesar. Later, when 
the urns were no longer used as measures, they were placed, as 
curiosities, in the inner courtyard of the palace of the Conserva- 
tors, and were both of them still there, in the middle of the 
sixteenth century. To-day Agrippina's urn alone is visible, at 
the entrance to the staircase of the archives ; the other has 
disappeared. 5 The wine and oil measures are on the landing 
of the first flight of stairs in the palace of the Conservators, 
and the linear measures are in the staircase of the bell-tower. 

Chig. I., VI. 204), we read : Alio lafiide marmoreo sito in pede Capitolii, portati de 
sepulcro Augustorum . . . et ordinato pro mensuris. See history of this MS. in 
the Bull. delT Istituto di Corrispondenza archeologica, an. 1871, p. 14 and 
following. 

1 Michaelis, La Collezione Capitolina, p. 10. As regards the estimation of this 
measure of capacity, we read in the Summa de Arithmetica of Luca Pacioli, quoted 
by Muntz in The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in French), Innocent VIII. , 
p. 289 : " Grano vi si vende a rugghio che fa in Genoa mine una e sette ottavi e in 
Fiorenza staia otto e tre quarti." 

2 Forcella, I. n. 7, 8, 10 ; inscriptions in archaic characters : COG. VINI, 
COG. OLEI. 

3 Statutes of 1519, Bk. I., art. 33, recording an analogous order contained in the 
preceding statutes ; Bk. III., art. 146, in the statutes of 1363 ; Bk. III., art. 166, in 
those of 1469; Bk. III., art. 67, in those of 1580. Above the standard measure 
placed in the first room of the palace of the Conservators could be read the inscrip- 
tion quoted by Forcella, I. n. 75. Later, the profit of this custom was transferred 
by Pope Urban VIII. to his nephew, Taddeo Barberini. Gigli, Cod. Vat., 8717, 
p. 211. Cf. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 70. The Republic of _ 1798 
suppressed this singular tax, which was re-established in 1817. Moroni, Biz. di 
Erudiz., LXIV. 57, and LXXXIV. 200 ; Fea, p. 227. 

4 Forcella, I. n. 130. Aldrovandi, pp. 270, 271, has transcribed the two inscrip- 
tions on the urns. 

5 Aldrovandi, who wrote about 1550, and Boisseau, who made a stay in Rome a 
little later, saw them. (J. J. Boissard, Romanae Urbis Topog. et Antiq., i597~ 
1602.) Cf, Lanciani, Ancient Rome. p. 22, 



FORMATION OF THE MUSEUMS 199 

The Capitol appears, therefore, to have been very poor in 
antiquities, when Pope Sixtus IV. presented the palace of the 
Conservators with a series of statues, of diverse origin, that 
became the nucleus and the ornament of the Capitoline collection, 
a gift which entitles him to be considered the founder of it. 1 
Among them was the bronze She-Wolf, which the Communal 
Council are said to have had placed above the entrance to the 
palace. The famous statue of the Thorn-drawer was another, 2 
as also the colossal head of Nero, 3 and a hand holding a globe, 
which was supposed to be a fragment of a statue of Samson. 4 
Then there were a statue, held to represent a Zingara 
and which is perhaps a Camillus, and another statue, in gilded 
bronze, representing Hercules, which had just been discovered, 
during the demolition of the Ara Massima, near the Maximian 
Circus. 5 This statue was placed in the palace courtyard, on 
the right, 6 and was then on a very high square socle, and was 
surrounded with fragments of colossal statues. The gift also 

1 It was a gift and not a restitution, as Gregorovius wrote, IV. 196. Platina, who 
cannot be suspected of exaggeration in praising the Popes, says in the life of Paul II. 
(Bibl. Casanatense, Inc. 661, c. 235): " Quippe qui statuas veterum undique ex 
tota urbe conquisitas in sttas illas aedes quas sub Capitolio construebat, con- 
gereret." Cf. Canesio, Vita di Paolo II, and Pauli II Veneti Pont. Max. Gesta 
vindiata et illustrata a Card. Aug. Mar. Quirini, Rome, 1740. Too literal a 
meaning must not be assigned to the word restituendas employed in the inscription 
mentioned lower down ; the people there are considered as being, in ancient times, 
the possessors of all the riches existing in Rome ; these statues belonged to them, 
therefore, by right, just as all those which might be found in Roman territory. Cf. 
Pastor, History of the Popes (in FrenchVParis, 1892, IV. 427. There was still in 
the Capitoline hill, at this date, in a sort of crypt, the Mythriac bass-relief which is 
to-day at the Louvre ; Flaminio Vacca saw it about 1594 : " Mi ricordo aver vista 
una buca, come una voragine. . . ." Smetius says (1545): " Romae, sub Ara Coeli, 
templum subterraneum est ubi Mithrae si7iiulacrum est. ..." According to 
Pignoria (1606) the bass-relief existed, for a time, on the Square, but this is doubtful ; 
subsequently it was removed to the Borghese villa. 

2 The discovery of this statue dated back apparently a great many years, for when 
competition was invited for the doors of the Florence baptistery, 1402-1403, Brunel- 
lescho used it in modelling the figure of one of Abraham's servitors, a fact which is 
remarked by Cicognara (Michaelis, p. 15). For a time it was considered to represent 
Mars. See Prospettivo, p. 196, note 3, and Forcella, I. n. in (1611); Helbig, 
I. 617. 

3 According to Valesio, an inscription was placed on the base that supported this 
head, when it was put inside the palace, beside the other colossal head of marble 
supposed to be that of Augustus. See Forcella, I. n. 106 and n. no. 

4 Stevenson, p. 131. Like the She-Wolf, it came from the Lateran. , According to 
Vacca, this colossal head and this colossal hand came from the Coliseum, to which 
they had given its name. Vacca, Memorie divarie Antichitct. Rome, 1594, n. 71. 

5 With regard to the displacements of this statue, see further on, pp. 205, 
206. In 1816 it was in the saloon. Tofanelli, p. 86. De Rossi, Mon. Ann. and 
Bull, de Inst., 1854. Michaelis, p. 16, gives and comments on the inscription re- 
cording the gift made by the Pope, of which only an altered copy exists. Cf. Miintz, 
The Arts and the Court of the Popes (in French), III. 170. Helbig, I. 612, 614. As 
to the Camillus, see Helbig, I. 607 ; Tofanelli, p. 173. Inscription of 1641. For- 
cella, I. 140. 

6 " Limina prima patent custode sub Hercule tut a, Aenus ad dextram qui 
marmore prominet alto.'" Fulvio, quoted by Michaelis, p. 16. Fulvio, ed. 1543, 
fol. 51, v. 



200 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

comprised a statue of Charles of Anjou, which, after being for a 
while relegated to a dark corner, was subsequently put in a 
prominent position. 1 The inauguration of this collection, which 
likewise included other objects of less importance, together 
with a considerable number of fragments, 2 was celebrated with a 
certain solemnity, on the 14th of December, 1471. An inscription 
recorded the Pope's generosity. 3 

Other antique monuments soon came to keep these first statues 
company, such as a votive altar dedicated to Hercules, which 
had been found, like the statue, in the Ara Massima, and which 
was placed beside the urns of Nero and Agrippina ; the basis of 
the vicomagistri, which were arranged near the colossal head of 
Domitian(i4th of December, 1471). 4 In the pontificate of Inno- 
cent ¥111.(1484-1492), a colossal head was brought to the 
Capitol, as well as the foot and hand of a marble statue of large 
size, supposed to be that of Apollo, which had been discovered 
near the so-called temple of Peace. 5 

The Milanese painter Prospettivo, who was the author of a 
verse narrative of a journey which he made to Rome, about 1500, 
enumerates the statues in the Capitoline museum at that time ; 
he mentions the statue of Hercules, the fragments of the colossus, 
the Camillus, the Thorn-drawer . . . G 

Bembo, who was in Rome about the same date, hardly noticed 
anything except the Thorn-drawer, which he saw beside another 
brazen statue. " . . . hi cuius quasdam co7iclave spectantur 
geminae statuae aeneae antiquissimae columnulis insidentes. 

1 Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes ; III. 171. It bore an inscription ; 
cf. Forcella, I. 20, which mentions its disappearance. However, it is to-day in the 
courtyard of the palace of the. Conservators, and, in the time of Nibby (Roma 
moderna, p. II. 615), it was in the great hall. 

2 Among others, a bust supposed to be that of M. Junius Brutus. Perhaps, 
Helbig, I. 522. Cf. Tofanelli, p. 51 ; Forcella, I. n. 54 ; and Lanciani, Scavi, I. 76. 

3 In the palace of the Conservators; the Anonymous Writer saw it: "In aula 
conservator 11711 in camera ubi statuae observantur.'" Forcella, I. n. 16. Concerning 
the Anonymous Writer, see Forcella, I. n. 11. 

4 Lanciani, Storia dei Scavz di Roma, p. 76. These bases bore a dedication to 
Hadrian (C.I. L., VI. 975); room of the Canopus, n. 42. Cf. Tofanelli, p. 138, and 
Fea, p. 225. Cf. another base, portico, n. 30. They had been known since the time 
of Ciriaco of Ancona, who died in 1459. The altar to Hercules,«on which is en- 
graven an inscription (Forcella, I. n. 91), is in the portico of the new museum, n. 6. 
Together with these objects, were brought votive tablets to Hercules (C.I.L., VI. 
312-318), which went through many vicissitudes. Numbers 314, 317, and 318 are 
lost. Michaelis, note 47 ; Lanciani, Scavi, I. 76. 

5 Michaelis, loc. cit., pp. 17, 18; Forcella, I. n. 127, 132; Tofanelli, p. 136. In 
reality, Apollo's statue, erected by Lucullus, was in bronze. Montagnani, p. 129, 
reproduces the head. Tofanelli, p. 138, says it belongs to a statue of Domitian ; 
Helbig, I. 536, to a statue of Augustus. Other fragments, a knee, a heel, an arm, 
a foot, were added later to these, and are in the same spot. 

6 Casanatense Library, early print, 1669, reprinted by Govi in the Atti dell' 
Accadcmia dei Lined, Ser. II. vol. III. (1875-1876), parte III. p. 39, and published 
separately under the title Intorno a un opusculo . , . Rome, 1876, p. 51. 



FORMATION OF THE MUSEUMS 



20 1 



Sed una nobilior et absolutior puer scilicet nudatus sedens dextra 
manu sinistrae plantae spinam extrahens . . . " 1 

Albertini, 2 who wrote in 1509, and who enumerates the artistic 
riches which the Capitol contained in his time, adds to the 
colossal head and the colossal hand also a foot in bronze. 3 




fig. 41.- 



-INNER COURTYARD OF THE PALACE OF THE 
CONSERVATORS. 



He mentions besides : " alia quamplurima Ro. monimentd cuju 
duabus pulcherrimis tabulis lucentibus mirae pulchritudinis et 
arlificii. r ' 4 These tabulae are fragments of two sarcophagi, one 
of which represents the symbolic figures of the four seasons, 



1 Quoted by Muntz, The Antiquities of the City of Rome (in French). 

2 Opusculum de Mirabilibus novae et veteris Urbis J?o//:ae, Rome, 151Q, 

3 Fulvio, Antiquit., and Aldrovandi likewise mention it. 

4 Fol, 6i } quoted by Michaelis, p. 20, 



202 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

with the door of the temple of Janus in the centre ; the other, 
the flight of Achilles and Penthesilea. 1 The former of these 
two sarcophagi is still in the Capitol, in the room of the She- 
Wolf ; the other has been removed to the Pamfili villa. About 
the same time, three fragments of a bass-relief were put in the 
Capitol, representing a sacrifice offered at the entrance to the 
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The personages composing it 
seem to be of the century of Trajan. 2 As for the quamplurima 
monimenta, the reference must be to the bass-reliefs and 
inscriptions which, from that date, the Capitol began to possess 
in great number. 3 Their abundance struck the Venetian 
ambassadors who came to Rome in 1523. Briefly relating their 
visit to the Capitol, in a report to the Senate, they wrote that 
they saw there : " Un iiifiitita quantita di figure marmoree e di 
bronzo le ftiu belle et famose del mondoT 4 The Communal 
Council augmented their collections in every way possible ; and, 
if need were, by force. Thus, in 1525, they took from the S. 
Martina Church the three bass-reliefs representing the life of 
Marcus Aurelius, without being willing to give anything in 
compensation to the fabric of the church. 5 

More and more, the Capitol became a museum of inscriptions, 
antiquities and curiosities, 6 whilst the Belvedere, at the Vatican, 
was reserved for masterpieces, marble statues, and all that 
charmed the sight by the perfection of its, art. The Popes sent 
to the Capitol the objects that did not seem to them likely 
to embellish their abode. Thus, Leo X. abandoned to the 

1 Aldrovandi, p. 271, describes them in such a way as to leave no doubt with re- 
gard to their identification ; " Entrando nella casa de Conservatori si truova sotto 
al portico che e da mandritta una tavola di marmo, attacata al muro con bellis- 
sime figure iscolpite nel cui mezo e como una porta, dure di morius che para, che 
s'apra, Vi e anco un altra tavola marmorea che ha in se scolpite genti e cavalli, 
che par che combattono." Tofanelli, p. 145 ; Fea, p. 228. It was removed into the 
room of the She- Wolf about the end of the sixteenth century. Michaelis, p. 47 ; 
Tofanelli, p. 145. 

2 Cf. Audollent, Miscellany of Archaeol. and Hist, (in French), 1889, p. 120 ; 
Michaelis, p. 20; Huelsen, Topog. der Stadt Rom, in Mittheilungen Arch. Inst., 
Rome, 1889, p. 249. Two of these fragments were removed later to the Borghese 
collection and now belong to the Louvre, where they have been put together ; as for 
the third, which represented the frontispiece of the temple, it has disappeared. 

3 Fichard, Franckfurtische Archiv., 1536, quoted by Michaelis, p. 20, n. 57, 
speaks of " Alia plura marmorea signa circumquaque in inferiori parte palatii 
hunts posita sed quae in t ant a copia non curantur." Marliani makes plain what 
these signa were by saying " parietibus inchtsa." (Fol. 21, v. ed. 1588.) 

4 Alberi, Relazioni degli Amb. Veneti al Senato, Ser. II. t. III. 108. 

5 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. *5, fol. 139. Sitting of the 29th of March, 
1524. Cf. Mabillon, Mus. Ital., II. 143, and Corpus Insc. Lat., VI. 1014 ; Lanciani, 
Destruction of Rome, p. 231 ; Helbig, I. 544, 546. Aldrovandi describes them, 
p. 271, as well as Fulvio, Antiq. Lfrbis Romae, written in 1513, published in 1527. 
Rigletti reproduces them, pp. 164 to 168. They are now in the staircase of the palace 
of the Conservators. 

6 Andrea Fulvius, Antiquitates Urbis, fol. 20, v. Cf. the poem quoted by E. 
Muntz, The Museum of the Capitol (in French), p. 7. 



FORMATION OF THF MUSEUMS 



203 



Capitoline museum the two river figures, which were placed on 
either side of the palace of the Conservators. 1 




FIG. 42. — THE MARZIO OR THORN-DRAWER. 



By the side of these two statues, in the middle of the century, 
were the fragments of the colossus, at least, the hand holding a 

1 See what is said of these two groups, p. 125. 



204 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

globe ; x it had, no doubt, been put there to show that the 
Conservators, who were striving to get themselves assimilated 
to the consuls, held the sovereign power. With these exceptions, 
there was a gradual removal to the palace of all the pieces 
of antique sculpture which had previously ornamented its 
approaches. The She-Wolf was placed in a room on the side 
towards the City, which became the chief chamber, the grand 
saloon of the palace. 2 Its walls were hung with brocade on 
special occasions. The gilded Hercules was taken from its 
pedestal in the courtyard and transferred to the votive altar 
dedicated to Hercules the Vanquisher. 3 Beside if was a 
statue of the god Pan, much mutilated. 4 The group of the 
horse and the lion was deemed in this period to have been 
brought to the Capitol during the pontificate of Paul III., by 
the care of Latino Juvenal, " maestro di strada" who had 
discovered it near the S. Paolo Gate, in a marsh. 5 

A sphinx had been removed into the courtyard beside the 
group of the lion ; 6 another was in another courtyard beside 
the cynocephalus in hard stone, which, as the sphinx, came 
from the church of S. Stefano del Cacco. 7 Of the three statues 
representing Constantine the Great and his son, one had been 
placed on the staircase leading to Mount Caprino ; the second, 
on the one opposite it and leading to the Aracoeli church ; the 
third, in the museum. 8 

Aldrovandi (1550) gives a description of the Capitoline 



1 The globe has disappeared ; it might have Been this one which was placed at 
the top of the milestone. Michaelis, n. 184. 

2 *' In porticu interiori prope aulam." Aldrovandi, p. 275; cf. Andrea Fulvio, 
ed. 1543, fol. 5 1 - Marliani had already seen it there in 1544. Stevenson, Annali 
del! Istituto ai'cheologico, an. 1877, P* 375 an d foil., speaks at length of the She-Wolf 
and the colossal hand brought, with that of the Lateran, to the Capitol. 

3 Corpus Insc. Lat., VI. 328; Michaelis, p. 30; Forcella, I. n. 41. 

4 With the inscriptions. Forcella, I. n. 131. Inscription of the year 1636. The 
reference is to the satyr mentioned by Aldrovandi. See Michaelis, p. 27 ; Tofanelli, 
p. 12 ; Helbig, I. 403 ; Court, n. 5, 23. 

5 Vacca, Memorie di varie Antickita, no. 70. 

*> Aldrovandi, p. 273; Boissard, III. 100; Marliani, ed. 1588, fol. 21, v. 

7 Boissard, III. Antiquity p. III. no. 100, gives the reproduction of the sphinxes. 
They were removed, together with the ape, from the Capitol to the Vatican when 
Gregory XVI. founded there the Egyptian museum (1838). An inscription placed in 
the room, called the Urn Room, records this fact. Forcella, I. 254. Cf. Pistolesi, 
Erasmo, 77 Vaticano descritto ed illustrato, Rome, 1838,^01. VIII. p. 138, and pi. 145 
and following. At present, room II. The lines which figure in the portico (Capitoline 
museum), nn. 32, 33, were brought there in 1833. Lanciani, Bull. Com., 1883. 

8 Michaelis, p. 51. Biondo, Roma Inst., II. 19, quotes three, as also Aldrovandi, 
p. 268: " Dinanzi la porta di Araceli si veggono due statue di Costantino Imp. 
vestite ,' . . . sono annate a V antic a con un has tone in mano : un ultra statua di 
Costantino medesimamente sivede su la Ripe Tarpeia." Marliani, ed. 1544, p. 27 ; 
L. Fauno, fol. 32, mention only two. Cf. Fichard, p. 41. They had been found in 
the thermae of Constantine, of which the Cardinal achieved the destruction, under 
the pontificate of Paul V, Novaes, vol. XIII. 297. See p. 142, and further on, 
p. 209. 



FORMATION OF THE MUSEUMS 205 

collection, after these modifications and additions. He men- 
tions, as being in the palace courtyard, a naked Apollo with a 
headless dog, 1 and a robed woman ; in another courtyard, the 
sphinx and the ape, the head bearing the name of Commodus, 
and a few other remains. Inside the palace were the Thorn- 
drawer, the Zingara (Camillus), a head of Hadrian, the She- Wolf, 
a marble Satyr with he-goat's feet, naked and tied to a tree, a 
child Bacchus, a statue of Hadrian as a child, a half-naked 
woman in bronze, a headless man holding a hammer in his 
hand, a robed woman sitting. 2 This shows that the museum 
was beginning to acquire importance and possessed precious 
objects, both in bronzes and in marble statues. 3 

Paul III. gave a Minerva (1541), which was subsequently 
placed on a socle, by the instructions of Pope Gregory XIII. 4 
The Consular Fasti, discovered in August, 1546, and almost 
immediately offered to the Roman people by Cardinal 
Alexander Farnese, had been let into the courtyard wall, oppo- 
site the entrance. 5 The bass-relief of Mettius Curtius was put 
in the Capitol in 1 5 53- 6 Pius IV. gave a statue of a man sitting, 
which was then called Aristides of Smyrna. 7 

The museum was increased with forced as well as with volun- 
tary gifts. In 1526, for instance, Alessandro Rufini, Bishop 
of Melfi, having guaranteed to the Commune the reimbursement 
of two thousand crowns advanced by the latter towards the re- 
building of the Ponte S. Maria (Ponte Rotto), in case the work 
should fail, and not being able to repay more more than 640 
crowns, was compelled to give, in lieu of the remaining balance, 

1 Endymion, portico, n. i (?) ; Michaelis, note 89; Fea, p. 1S9. Tofanelli, p. 13, 
gives another origin. 

2 Hadrian's head, gallery, n. 36 ; Satyr, room of the sarcophagus of Alexander 
Severus, n. 20; Bacchus, gallery, n. 58(?); child Hadrian, ibid., n. 28; woman 
sitting, perhaps the statue named Agrippina (Helbig, I. 466),-room of the Emperors, 
n. 84. The other statues, notably the man with the hammer, have disappeared. 

3 Ulisse Aldrovandi or Aldroandi, composed, in 1550, his book, Delle Statue 
Antiche di Roma, which was printed at Venice in 1556. Lucio Mauro, ed. 1556, 
p. 11, mentions only the She-Wolf, the river-gods, the fragments of the colossus, the 
gilded Hercules, a naked shepherd, a satyr, and, he says, a quantity of statues in bad 
condition. Gamucci, 2nd edition, 1580, fol. 200, mentions the same objects, or nearly 
so ; in the first room, he mentions, as being fixed to the wall, the colossal head found 
near the so-called temple of Peace. Marliani mentions only a satyr : Statua aenea 
satyri pulcherrima et quaedam alia deorum si?nulacra, fol. 21. Fol. 22, v. : the 
Thorn-drawer, a slave, a naked child sitting. 

4 Forcella, I. n. 71 ; cf. n. 43. Inscription of 1541, 2nd half year ; Michaelis, p. 32 ; 
Tofanelli, p. 13. At present, portico, n. 4. This is the one which was placed for a 
time, as has been said, in the niche under the staircase. 

5 " Attacata al muro in capo del cortiglio." Aldrovandi, p. 271. Cf. L. Fauno, 
De Antiq., 1549. Forcella, I. 1, gives the text of these Fasti. In 1586, an inscription 
was placed in the room where they were. Forcella, I. n. 88. 

6 Helbig, I. 548. Courtyard of the palace of the Conservators. 

7 Forcella, I. n. 52. Cf. Righetti, 146. It was given as compensation for a real 
Aristides assigned to the Vatican (Michaelis, p. 34) ; gallery, n. 58. With regard to 
the statue of the Vatican, Montagnani, III. 58. There is a bust of Aristides pointed 
out by Righetti, n. 211, in the room of the Philosophers, n. 9. 



206 THE. ROMAN CAPITOL 

two large statues of Julius Caesar and Augustus. At present, 
these form part of the museum of the Conservators. 1 In 1564, 
the Cardinal of Carpi 2 bequeathed to the museum the bust of 
L. Junius Brutus. 3 

Elected on the 7th of January, 1566, Pius V., on the nth 
of February, presented the Capitol with about thirty statues 
and a large number of busts and bass-reliefs that his predecessor, 
Pius IV., had collected at the Vatican, to adorn the Belvedere. 
This great haste was the effect not so much of the interest 
the new pontiff felt for the Capitoline museum as of the aversion 
inspired in his holy austerity by these symbols of paganism. 
On the 27th of February, the statues were removed to the 
Capitol. 4 Thirty facchini were required for the task, one for 
each statue. On the other hand, the people undertook to have 
a mass celebrated on the Pope's behalf for ever, in the chapel 
of St. Thomas Aquinas. 5 

The Pope had intended the gift to be still more considerable; 
and all the statues contained in the Belvedere would have 
been transported to the Capitol, 6 if unknown circumstances had 
not prevented the deed. Certain of the statues that remained 
at the Vatican were hidden behind planks, which shows that 
the Pope, unable to get rid of them at the moment, insisted on 
at least putting them out of sight. More of them were removed 
to the Capitol under the succeeding pontiffs that were inspired 
with the ideas of Pius V. 7 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 37, fol. 134. Cf. Helbig, nn. 534, 535. The 
second statue really represents a naval commander. Inscriptions placed on the socles. 
Forcella, I. nn. 56, 57. 

2 Ridolfo Pio di Carpi. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 37, fol. 179. Cf. Michaelis, p. 34 ; Visconti, 
Iconogr., Rome, I. pi. 2 ; Helbig. I, 610; Forcella, I. 54. It was among the objects 
sent by Bonaparte to Paris. Tofanelli, p. 146. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 227. 

5 Cod. Vat. Urb., 1040 (avvisi), fol. 182. 

6 Bicci, Notizia della famiglia Boccapaduli, p. 114, gives the Inventario delle 
figure donate da N. S. Pio V al Popolo Romano, which comprises other statues. 
However, the following inscription which he quotes shows that the statues removed 
were really thirty in number : 

MAGISTR. POPVLIQ. RO. 

PII. V. PONT. MAX. 

XXX STATVARVM MARM. DONO 

ORNATI 

PVBLICVM AETERNVMQ. 

GRATI. ANIMI 

TESTIMONIVM. 

Bicci, loc. cit., p. 117, note; Forcella, I. n. 62. Cf. Michaelis, p. 37, who discusses 
the nomenclature given by Bicci. 

7 Michaelis, p. 42, thinksit was in the pontificate of Gregory XIII., or of Sixtus V., 
that the other statues figuring in the Vatican, and notably in the Belvedere, went to 
the Capitoline museum, at least in part. At any rate, the transfer was made slowly. 
Pighio (Pigkius Hercules Prodicius, Antwerp, 1587, p. 390) found the theatre, in 1574, 
ornamented with a quantity of marble statues. The Reims sculptor, Pierre Jacques, 



FORMATION OF THE MUSEUMS 207 

Among the statues that went from the Vatican to the Capito- 
line museum were a Genius, a Muse representing Comedy, a 
headless goddess of Fortune, a group of Agrippina and Nero, 
four children, a river-god, the busts of Claudius, Antony, 
Faustina, Tiberius, Alexander, a Polyphemus with a companion 
of Ulysses, an old woman in a recoiling attitude, a girl with a 
bird, a Bacchus and an Apollo, the statue of Chastity. 1 

In 1568, there was an exchange of statues between the 
Cardinal of Ferrara, Luigi d'Este, and the Roman people. The 
Cardinal was then building on the Quirinal the villa that Pope 
Sixtus V. subsequently bought, and that became the ordinary 
residence of the sovereign pontiffs. He had remarked, in the 
Capitoline collection, three small statues, " capable of being 
used as water-jets," a nymph on a dolphin, a sleeping Venus, 
half-naked, a Neptune with a sleeping dolphin at his feet ; and 
he wished to ornament with them the garden surrounding his 
villa. He, therefore, asked the Communal Council to let him 
have these three statues, proposing in exchange a colossal 
statue of the Emperor Tiberius, " whose head was antique and 
of finished workmanship," and which, he said, was perfectly 
suitable for the site it was to occupy. The Council designated 

designed at the Vatican, between 1572 and 1576, the bass-relief of Zethos and Amphion 
which figured on the inventory of the objects given {Miscellany of Archaeology and 
History, 1890, p. 200 (in French). Cavallieri mentions about the same date twelve 
statues as being in Vaticano viridario, some of which subsequently formed part of 
the Capitoline collections (I. II. 17, 18; Capitol, tav. '8, n. 113, n. 6, quoted by 
Michaelis, note 124). Contarino (L'Antichitd di R oma, Venice, 1575), who almost 
textually reproduces Aldrovandi, it is true, does not mention these statues at the 
Capitol. They were only brought there later, therefore. Sixtus V. was perhaps the 
Pope who achieved the work of Pius V., to the profit of the Capitol. " Hardly could 
he tolerate at the Vatican the Laocoon and the Apollo Belvedere," says Ranke (French 
translation, Paris, 1844, II. 126). " He would not tolerate at the Capitol the antique 
statues which had been placed there by the citizens of Rome. He declared he would 
demolish the Capitol, if they were not taken away. These statues were a Jupiter 
the thunderer, between Minerva and Apollo. Two of these statues had, in fact, to 
be removed. Minerva alone was left. But Sixtus required that she should represent 
Rome, and even Christian Rome. He deprived her of the lance she held, and put a 
huge cross in her hand." Cf. Description of Rome, by Bunsen, I. 702. Sixtus V. 
was not fond-of the arts, but there was no harshness in his attitude. Yet Righetti 
confirms that, at the time of the transformations he made in the Vatican, several 
statues were taken away from the place they occupied and given to the people. 
Michaelis, p. 42. See what has been said above about the taking away, by order of 
Sixtus V., of the statues ornamenting the bell-tower, p. 151, note 1. 

1 Inscription commemorating this gift : Forcella, I. n. 61. Genius : Helbig. I. 501. 
Michaelis says it was lost. Muse (Thalia?) : Tofanelli, p. 139; Michaelis. p. 37; 
palace of the Conservators, staircase. Goddess of Fortune, saloon, n. 23C?). The group 
does not represent Agrippina and Nero ; in the time of Fea (see Nuova Descriz., 
p. 202) it was in the room of the Doves ; to-day, gallery, n. 56. Cf. Tofanelli, p. 48. 
The transfer was made then. River-god, perhaps on the sarcophagus representing 
the birth of Bacchus, gallery, n. 46. Busts of Claudius, room of the Emperors, n. i2(?) ; 
of Antony, gallery, n. 26 ; of Faustina, room of the Emperors, n. 36 or 39 ; of Tiberius, 
galleiy, n. 24 ; Alexander, room of the Gladiator, n. 3. Polyphemus, portico, n. 35; 
old woman, saloon, n. 22. Girl, room of the Gladiator, n. 9. Bacchus and Apollo : 
Montagnani, I. pi. XX., XLVIII. The Bacchus was given in the time of Sixtus V. : 
Righetti, I. pi. LXIX. Chastity, saloon, n. 15. Cf. Helbig, I. 409, 508, 526, 531. 



2o8 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

commissaries, who were less convinced than the Cardinal, as it 
would seem, of the advantage of the exchange ; for, prior to 
advising their colleagues, they exacted two statues instead of 
one (29th of March — 27th of September, 1568). 1 

None the less, in the following year, the Cardinal, his taste 
growing, proposed, in exchange for three life-size statues of 
women, seated and robed, which he wished to place in his 
garden, to hand over some larger than life-size statues that the 
superintendent of the restoration w r ork — it must have been 
Boccapaduli — stated to be necessary for the decoration of the 
palaces. Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano availed 
himself of the opportunity to ask for a similar exchange, as 
he was, at the time, building the villa which, after its purchase 
by Cardinal Alessandro de Medici, was called the Medici 
villa, and he was seeking some small statues. On the 28th of 
July, 1 569, the two requests were examined and approved by the 
public Council. 2 

In the same year, 1 569, the Roman people, or rather their Coun- 
cil, acquired a statue of Hercules belonging to a certain Francesco 
Ronciono. Boccapaduli conducted the negotiations for the 
purchase. 3 Lorenzo Astalli made over to them a marble tablet 
on which were engraven several inscriptions. 4 In spite of the 
extreme poverty of the public treasury, the Council never failed 
to send commissaries to attentively examine all the objects that 
were offered for their approval. 5 In 1571, they acquired a 
marble which was believed to represent Mount Aventine. 6 At 
the same time, they received from the Chapter of the Lateran a 
brass plate and a cock, likewise in brass ; and, in return, they 
voted the Chapter a present, w r hich, to tell the truth, the latter 
had in a manner solicited. 7 The statue of Hadrian sacrificing 
was bought about this period. 8 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 38, fol. 77, 91. The Tiberius is, at present, 
in the courtyard, n. 17. 

2 The request was submitted to the secret Council of the 19th of July, and was 
accepted, "seeing that the statues given by the people were small and the statues 
offered large and more in harmony with the decoration for which they were to be 
utilised." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 38, fol. 107, 131. The text does not 
say what were the statues exchanged. 

3 Ibid., vol. 38, fol. 107. Perhaps, Helbig. I. 588. 

4 Ibid., vol. 38, fol. 175. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 38, fol. 537. 

6 Council meeting of the 18th of Nov., 1570. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 
38, fol. 342, 344. Archbishop Cardinal Massini paid a thousand ducats for this 
statue found on the Aventine. The reference is to a representation of the child 
Hercules (Helbig. I. 514 ; Forcella, I. n. 92) ; saloon, n. 3. Another child Her- 
cules, gallery, n. 51. 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 27, fol. 16. Tofanelli, p. 39. The naval 
frieze, coming from a temple of Neptune which previously decorated the church of 
St. Laurence-outside-the-walls, was placed in the museum about this period ; room 
of the Philosophers, n. 99-roi. 

8 Michaelis, p. 47. Portico, n. 36 ; found near the church of S. Stefano Rotondo. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THF COLLECTIONS 209 

Either by generosity, or for the motives already mentioned, 
the Holy See continued to enrich the museum. Gregory XIII. 
presented it with the precious inscription containing the Lex 
Regia, which had formerly served Cola di Rienzo as text and 
argument, to demonstrate to the Roman people their past 
greatness and present decay, and which was still in the 
Lateran, in the place it occupied when the tribune was alive 
(1576). 1 

Classification of the Collections. 

About the end of the sixteenth century, a first attempt was 
made to arrange the mass of antiquities which, for the past 
hundred years, had been accumulating in the Capitol. It appears 
that the bronzes were put together in one room. 2 The statue of 
Hercules was given a pedestal more appropriate than that on 
which it had been previously placed (1578). 3 The same thing 
was done with the She-Wolf, in 1586. 4 The Fasti which 
Cardinal Farnese had recently offered to the Capitol were 
likewise assigned a more suitable position (1588). 5 

Sixtus V. endowed the museum with two of the ancient 
columns that had belonged to the old palace of the Lateran ; he 
also presented it with the "metal ball that was above the 
eagle of the Vatican." 6 Now and again, the museum received 
legacies. Adriano Fusconi, Bishop of Aquino, who died in 
1579, had bequeathed his entire collection of antiquities, which 
was exceedingly fine, to the Roman people ; but only in case 
his heirs should not agree about its remaining intact in his 
house. 7 The inventory that was made of it, in 1593, proved its 
value. 8 In it were statues of great beauty, a Diana robed and 
with her dog, an Alexander nude and of life size, an Adonis, a , 

1 Forcella, I. n. 72. Room of the Faun. Cf. Lanciani, Scavi, II. 85. 

2 In the inscription (Forcella, I. n. 70) we read: " COACTIS IN VNVM 
AENEIS MONVMENTIS." This inscription dates back to the pontificate of 
Gregory XIII. 

3 Nicholas Audebert of Orleans, who travelled in Italy from 1574 to 1578, writes 
in a letter at the end of his itinerary : "The Hercules is there still on the ground, 
until a room is finished, when it will be placed at the further end." About Audebert, 
see P. de Nolhac, The Library of Fulvio Orsini (in French), Paris, 1887, p. 66, 
and Revue archeologiqtie ', E. Miintz has published the part of the journey relating 
to Rome in the Antiquities of the City of Rojne (in French), 1886, pp. 72-128. The 
MS. is in the British Museum (Lansdowne, MS. 720). The old pedestal is used to 
support the bust, called Virgil's, which was then in the same room, now the room of 
the Philosophers, n. 1. Venuti, II. 294. 

4 Inscription on the socle. Forcella, I. n. 87. 6 Forcella, I. n. 378. 

•5 Archiv. di Stato, Mand. Camer., an. 1587-1589, fol. III. The columns were 
used later to adorn the central window of the gallery. Venuti, p. 305. ' 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 29, fol. 45, 47. The text of the will is found 
in the Archiv. Capit., Atti Not. Originali, vol. 77, fol. 471. 

8 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 30, fol. 105. 



210 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Marcus Aurelius, busts of Roman Emperors, in great number, 
shafts of columns. In vain the people tried to obtain this 
collection. When the last direct heir of the Bishop died, viz., the 
Marchioness Francesca Pighini, the matter was still unsettled, 
although the Council had carried it before every jurisdiction, 
and had even applied to the tribunal of the Rota (1764). Then 
it was decided that the people would definitely renounce all 
their claims in order to spare the Communal treasury further 
expense. 1 

In 1 581, the Council treated for the acquisition of several 
antique statues and objects undescribed in the minutes.' 2 In 
1583, two larger than life-size statues were bought, "with their 
heads entire and in good preservation." 3 They were intended 
for the decoration of the palace ; for, while the Capitoline 
collections were being increased, endeavours were made to 
complete the realisation of Michael Angelo's designs. The 
Council never ceased occupying themselves with fresh purchases. 4 
In 1590, room was found, in the courtyard of the palace, for a 
fine sarcophagus which had been discovered shortly before in 
the Monte del Grano, 5 and on the lid of which it was believed 
the effigies of the Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother, 
Julia Mamea, could be recognised. 6 In 1592, the celebrated 
bust of Scipio was acquired; and, in 1594, the statue of 
Marforio, which had played in past centuries such an important 
part by its replies to Pasquin, was removed to the Capitol and 
placed in the palace courtyard. It was intended to ornament 
the fountain on the Navona square ; and was brought there, 
when claimed by the Communal Council, " to be used as a 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 104, fol. 8 ; Cred. VII. vol. 69, fol. 586 ; in 
the sitting of the 7th of Aug., 1765, the advocate of the Roman people was 
commissioned to make this renunciation. 

2 Lanciani, Scavi, II. 89. 

3 Sitting of the 8th of March, 1583. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 17, 
and Cred. I. vol. 28, fol. 159. The reference is to the statues of Trajan and 
Antonine the Pious. Forcella, I. n. 77. Trajan, saloon, n. 9 ; Antonine, ibid;, 
n. 25. Tofanelli, pp. 85, 88. 

4 Sitting of the 17th of June, 1583. Archiv. Stor. Capit, Cred. I. vol. 28, 
fol. 171. 

5 The Monte del Grano is a mound situate in the Roman campagna, between the 
Via Latina and the Via Labicana. Its slopes were cultivated, whence its 
name. Excavations were made there about this period. Nibby, Dintomi di Roma, 
Rome, 1837, II. 344. 

6 Forcella, I. n. 91. This sarcophagus contained a glass vase ornamented with 
designs and prismatically tinted, which became the preperty of the Barberini family, 
then passed into the hands of the Duke of Portland, and now belongs to the British 
Museum. Memoir of R. Venuti, Spiegazione de bassirilievi dell' Urna detta 
d' Alessandro-Severo nel Museo Cafiitolino, Rome, 1756, addressed to the Duchess 
of Choiseul, then Ambassadress at Rome. Cf. F. Ficoroni, Le Vestigie e Rarity 
di Roma antica, Rome, 1744, p. 169. Tofanelli, p. 28, and Piranesi^ Antiq. di 
Roma, II. tav. XXX. The scenes represent the life of Hercules (Helbig, I. 424) ; 
room called that of the Sarcophagus. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLLECTIONS 211 

river-god above the fountain of the Square. 7 ' * The niche in 
which it was placed was constructed from the design of 
Giacomo della Porta, and cost 150 crowns. It was Bescape, 
as has been said, who repaired the statue. 2 The colossal 
bronze head was taken from the position it had occupied under 
the portico, and placed among the antiquities in the palace 




FIG. 43. — MARFORIO (BEFORE ITS RESTORATION). 



courtyard. 3 About this time, a bust, supposed to be that of the 
praetor L. Cornelius, was bequeathed to the Capitol by Fulvio 

1 As already said, it was another statue which was placed on the fountain. It was 
used later, in 1734, to ornament the fountain in the inner courtyard of the second 
palace of the Conservators. See what Evelyn says, quoted further on, p. 213, 
note 7 ; and Helbig, I. no. 401 ; Michaelis, p. 50. This statue may be believed to 
have represented the Rhine, under the features of Jupiter ; it was probably 
executed in the time of Diocletian. Burckhardt, Le Cicerone ; Ancient Art, p. 72. 
Reproduction of this statue before its restoration, Boissard, I. pi. 4, 3 ; after its 
restoration, De Cavalleriis, pi. 94 ; De Rossi, Raccolta di Statue, pi. 26, &c. As to 
its history, Cancellieri, Notizia delle due famose statue di un Jiume e di Patroclo 
dette volgaramente di Marforio e di Pasquino, Rome, 1789, and Carcere Tulliano, 
of the same. Scipio (Helbig, I. 484), room of the Philosophers, n. 49. 

2 Arch. Cap., Atti Orig. Not. Arconio, vol. 12, fol. 30, nth of Feb., 1594. Cf. 
Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. IV. vol. 104, fol. n. 

3 Michaelis, p. 50. See pp. 187 and 199. 

P 2 



212 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Orsini, as well as a brass plate. Both had just been discovered 
near Tivoli. However, neither of them figures to-day in the 
collection. They were taken away in the following century; 
the plate passed into the hands of the Barberini, who possessed 
it till 1799. Since that date, it has disappeared. As for the 
bust, it was bought, about 17 10, by the English architect Kent, 
on behalf of Thomas Coke, who placed it in his residence at 
Holkam Hall, from where it has similarly disappeared. 1 The 
bass-relief supposed to represent Marcus Aurelius, and which 
was added to three others, was put in the Capitol about 
1590. 2 

Meanwhile, the rooms in the palace of the Conservators had 
been accumulating statues which, more often than not, were in 
an exceedingly bad state of preservation. So it was decided, 
about this time, to undertake a general restoration of them. A 
commencement was made with the two groups of Castor and 
Pollux. A Milanese sculptor, Antonio Peracca by name, and, 
with him, Giovanni Antonio Valsoldi, were entrusted with the 
work ; and a third sculptor was added to them, Alessandro 
Rondino of Como. They were paid 450 crowns for each 
group, on condition of completing their task in the course 
of the year 1594. 3 Then attention was turned to the lion 
which once stood at the top of the staircase giving access to 
the Capitol, and which was used in executions ; it was then in 
the courtyard of the palace. Ruggiero Bescape of Milan was com- 
missioned to restore it. To the same sculptor was next given 
the marble statue of Constantine to repair, and a bust to add 
to the colossal bronze head then called Trajan's (Nero junior's), 
and the top of the cranium and the hair. The weight of metal 
which the artist was to employ in completing it was stipulated 
as not to be inferior to seventeen hundred pounds. Bescape 
had also to repair the four bass-reliefs representing the history 
of Marcus Aurelius. For some of these tasks, he had the 
co-operation of Vincenzo Topi of Montepulciano. He died in 
1600, without finishing the restoration of the colossal Trajan. 
Domenico di Bartolommeo of Lupis succeeded him ; and, subse- 
quently, a certain maestro Filiftpo, who was doubtless Filippo 

1 Michaelis, p. 50 ; Gallaeus, Illustrium imagines, tab. 48 ; Michaelis, Ancient 
Marbles in Great Britain. The bust was replaced by another to which the same 
name was given. Tofanelli, p. 151. It too has disappeared. 

2 Vacca, n. 28; Michaelis, p. 46; Helbig, I. 547. It came from the Sciarra 
Square. 

3 " Ascanius Bubalus, Johannes Franchinus et Marcus Antonius Coronatus 
Conservatores nomine Ro. Populi . . . concesserunt Magistro Johanni A7itonio 
Peraccha sculptori Mediolanensi in Urbe ad perficiendum et ad debitum finem 
terminandum Gigantem marmoreum magnum." Helbig, I. 538 ; Archiv. Capit., 
Atti orig. del Not. Arconio, vol. 12, fol. 179. Cf. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. IV. 
vol. 114, fol. 16. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLLECTIONS 213 

Casella, registered, about that time, among" the number of the 
masters in the stone-cutter's and sculptor's art. 1 

For a long while, Filippo continued to be the official restorer 
of the antiquities belonging to the Roman people ; and he, in 
fact, restored a great many. Payments varying from ten to 
forty crowns were made from year to year ; but the nature of 
the work is rarely specified. On the 13th of December, 161 3, 
he received twelve crowns for repairing "two horses and the 
marble giants, at the top of the great staircase leading to the 
Capitol," which were in danger of falling ; 2 then, almost imme- 
diately afterwards, twice fifty crowns for the same work. 3 In 
spite of these repeated expenses, the Council were as assiduous 
as ever in purchasing " such monuments of antiqnity as were 
likely to commemorate the greatness of the City." 4 

However, with the increasing riches of the Capitoline museum, 
the confusion augmented in still greater proportion. They were 
then, and for long they continued to be, a medley of the most 
heterogeneous objects heaped up without any method what- 
soever. 5 The disorder was so great, at the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, that the Conservators and the prior of the 
cafiorioni were commissioned to effect a classification. To 
reward their trouble, they were promised the inscription of their 
names on the socles of all the objects they might arrange, this 
notwithstanding a rule to the contrary. 6 

The Council also undertook the decoration of the rooms. In 
1624, they voted a sum of eight hundred ducats, to hang the 
walls with silk and damask, in the room called the room of 
Hercules. The purchase of the bust of Cicero was anterior to 
the year 1635. 7 

1 A. Bertolotti, Artisti Lombardi a Roma, Milan, 1881, II. 309. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 61, fol. 230. 

3 Ibid., fol. 231, 234. 

4 Sitting of the Communal Council of the 4th of Nov., 1596. It was no doubt about 
this time that the Capitol received the fine circular altar supporting the statue of 
Aesculapius ; saloon, n. 5. Both came from Anzio. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. 
vol. 30, fol. 126. 

5 De Brosses, Familiar Letters (in French), 1739-1740, II. 207, says: "The 
inside of these three palaces, especially the one of the left wing, is filled with a huge 
quantity of antique statues and of inscriptions which are heaped up from time to time, 
as occasion offers. All of these are scattered about, without order, in the courts of 
the wings, under the porticoes, on the staircases, in the apartments. . . . There seems 
to be an intention of working at them soon." See p. 183, note 1. 

6 Sitting of the Communal Council, of the 28th of June, 1614. Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, fol. 6j. 

7 '• De omandacamera Hei-culis." Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 32, fol. 202 ; 
Michaelis, p. 52. The English traveller John Evelyn gives a description of the 
Capitoline collection in the year 1644 (Evelyn, Diary, in the Memoirs and Corre- 
spondence of John Evelyn (London, 1827, vol. I. p. 161). He mentions the statue of 
Marforio which, he says, casts water into a basin ; the colossal head of Commodus 
fixed to the wall, the rostral pillar of Duillius; in a small courtyard, the statue of 
Constantine ; on a fountain, ahead of Minerva (the colossal head already spoken of) ; 



214 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

In the year 165 1, the whole museum was overhauled. Statues 
which were on the ground floor were taken up to the first floor ; 
others were put in the chapel, or relegated to the Archivio. 
Every removal cost from one to two crowns. Gio. Batta. 
Torrone, capo mastro of the Roman people, received, in 
all, 126 crowns, which proves the importance of the changes 
carried out. 1 It was the same Torrone, who in 1653 removed 
the two statues of the Constantines from the place they had 
occupied for a century, on the steps leading to the church 
of S. Maria Aracoeli, to where they now stand on the right and 
left of the Dioscuri. For this operation he received twenty- 
eight crowns. 2 In 1662, Pope Alexander VII. made a giftto the 
Capitol of two of the bass-reliefs taken from the Portogallo arch, 
which was at the corner of the Corso and the Via in Lucina, 
since he had just pulled the arch down ; 3 and, in 1663, he gave a 
bronze foot from the pyramid of Cestius. 4 In 1673, f° ur crowns 
and a half were spent on transferring the head of Domitian to 
the courtyard and repairing the marble socle on which it stood. 5 
In 1692, it was decided to do up the statue surmounting the 
fountain ; it appears to have badly needed restoration ; the parts 
renovated were the head, the neck, the left arm, the shoulders, 
the torso, and part of the hips. However, the person entrusted 
with the task received only one crown for the labour and a 
crown for the marble. 6 An excavation made about this date on 
the Pietra Square resulted in the discovery of four pedestals 
ornamented with figures of Provinces, two of which were 
assigned to the Chigi palace, and two to the Capitol. One of 
the latter was placed in the courtyard of the palace of the 
Conservators, where it was used as a support to the head said 
to be Domitian's (1672) ; the other was placed in the new palace, 
beside the two Christian pedestals. 7 

the mausoleum of Alexander and Mamea : the group of the lion and horse ; and the 
frescoes of Laureti and of the horse of Arpino. Bust of Cicero (Forcella, I. n. 28 ; 
Helbig, I. 493), room of the Philosophers, n. 75. 

1 Ai.chiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 1, fol. 48. The Thorn-drawer was provided 
with a new socle in 1609, as also the fragments of the colossus called Apollo, in 1635 > 
and the urn of Agrippina, about the same time ; the fragments of the colossus seem 
to have been displaced in the following year, as well as the god Pan ; three statues 
of figures sitting, and the muses Thalia and Urania in 1639 ; the Camillus in 1641 ; 
a statue of Marius in 1653. Forcella, I. nn. 111, 127, 130, 131, 132, 135, 138, 140, 151. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VJ. vol. 1, fol. 138. 

3 Lanciani, Destruction of Rome, p. 256 ; Michaelis, p. 53 ; Righetti, vol. 1, pi. 
169 and 170; Helbig, I. 549. These bass-reliefs represent the apotheosis of an 
empress or an emperor (Hadrian) proclaiming a decree. As to the denomination 
of the arch, see Adinolfl, Roma nelV Eta. di mezzo, II. 72, and Nibby, Roma antica, 
I. 471. An inscription recorded this gift. Forcella, I. n. 181. 

4 Michaelis, p. 53 ; Tofanelli, p. 41. Cf. Helbig, I. 614, who perhaps confuses 
this foot with the one mentioned p. 201. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 4, fol. 248. 

6 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 8, fol. 221. 

7 Michaelis, p. 54 ; Helbig, I. 537 ; Forcella, I. n. 167 ; Tofanelli, pp. 14. 138. 



THE NE W MUSE UM 2 1 5 

In fine, the seventeenth century was less profitable to the 
museum than the preceding one, since the Popes then reigning 
had nephews who were great lovers of the fine arts, the 
Barberini, the Pamfili, the Borghese, the Ludovisi, to whom 
in preference their gifts were presented. 



The New Museum, called the Museum of the 
Capitol. 

In the middle portion of the seventeenth century, the crowding 
had become so great in the museum rooms of the palace of the 
Conservators, that it was necessary to take thought for removing 
elsewhere part of the objects they contained. The new palace, 
situated opposite, had just been completed. It was utilised for 
this purpose. Still, the transfer was made unmethodically, and 
very slowly. 1 In 1704, the work was yet in progress, but so 
little ardour was shown, that the expenses amounted only to 
seventeen crowns for the whole year. 2 Out of economy, the 
busts were placed on wooden socles. 3 Indeed, the state of the 
City finances was such that purchases were completely stopped 
at this time ; and all that was done was to repair the statues, 
many of which were in a very bad condition. In 1707, the 
Hercules was restored. 4 In 1708, a finger was renovated on one 
of the river-gods standing at the foot of the great staircase of 
the Senatorial palace ; it cost 2 crowns 50 ; the nose w r as also 
renovated, which cost a crown ; and the soles of the feet, at 
a cost of 2 crowns 70. 5 In 171 1, a finger that lacked was 
added to the statue of Rome ; and in its hand was firmly fixed 
the commander's staff, which had become loose. 6 In 1713, the 
consular Fasti were put into one of the rooms of the palace. 7 In 

1 In 1 67 1, a first inventory was drawn up of the statues contained in the new 
museum. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. IV. vol. 99, fol. 45 and following. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 9, fol. 349. The statue of Chastity and the 
Juno Sospita were placed in the staircase in 1680 (Forcella, I. n. 176) ; at present, 
saloon, n. 15 ; the Abundance and the Immortality on the ground floor, portico, n. 30, 
31, in 16S1 (Forcella, n. 179) ; Jupiter and Hadrian in the portico, nn. 36, 41, in 1687 
(Forcella, n. 182); Bacchus and Apollo in the gallery, n. 38, in 1717 (Forcella, nn. 218, 
219). The Polyphemus, portico, n. 35 ; the Aesculapius in black marble, saloon, n. 5 ; 
Marcello, or the Augustus sitting, room of the Philosophers, n. 98 ; the old woman, 
saloon, n. 22 ; the statue of Marius, are designated as being in the new palace, by 
Rossini (1693), Pinarolo (1703), Keyssler (1730), Michaelis, n. 205. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., ut supra. 4 Forcella, I. n. 207. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. IV. vol. 12, fol. 418. 

6 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 15, fol. 148. 

7 Sitting of the Council of the 28th of Sept., 1713. Conto di M. Andrea Maggi 
vmratore per mettere in opera la lapide dei Fasti Consolari nella seconda stanza 
verso Monte Taipejo con ordine dei Conservatori. Per avere pre so detta lapide c he 
era nel cortile del Palazzo e portata di sopra con otto uomini. The total expense, 
approved by the new architect of the people, Alessandro Specchi, amounted to 4 
crowns 77. (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 14, fol. 148.) The Faun came from 
Mount Aventine (Tofanelli, p. 52) ; gallery, n. 12. 



216 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

1705, Pope Clement XL presented the museum with two busts 
of Scipio and a bust of u Ulpian Trajan, the consul " ; and in 
1 7 14, he made over to it five antique statues discovered in the 
gardens of Leone Verospi Vitelleschi, near the Salara Gate. 1 
He, likewise, gave the two Barbarians, in grey marble, a bust 
of Marcus Aurelius, and a bass-relief representing Endymion 
reposing. 2 The " Fish-jaw," intended to " show the marvels 
of the ocean," was bequeathed to the museum in 1733. 3 

Benedict XIII. showed himself more generous still than his 
predecessors. Learning that the Chartreux monks of the mon- 
astery of S. Maria degli Angeli possessed two metal geese, and 
a statue of I sis, a palm and a half high (37 centimetres), which 
latter was said to be curious, on account of the hieroglyphics 
with which it was covered, and which was mounted on an 
antique alabaster socle, he bought it, in order to make a 
present of it to the Conservators (1727). 4 In the same year, 
two Greek columns, a gift of Cardinal Albani's, were taken 
from a courtyard, where they had remained neglected, and were 
put in the room of the capitani. b The so-called sarcophagus of 
Alexander Severus was transferred to the new palace ; and 
there also were taken two Egyptian statues, one of which, in 
black granite, represents the mother of Ramses III. (Sesostris). 6 
The museum was, at this period, likewise enriched with a bust 
of Socrates, with a Diana, a Bacchante, and a statue of Juno, 
which last was then believed to be the statue of an Amazon ; 



1 Sittings of the Communal Council of the 29th of November and 10th of December, 
1714, in which the gift was accepted and a " superintendent appointed for the transfer, 
repairing, and installation of the said statues," which were placed in the new palace. 
Archiv. Stor. Capit., Creel. VI. vol. 57, fol. 241 ; Michaelis, Coll. Capit. > p. 57. 
According to the text itself of the gift deed, the statues referred to were those in 
' ' hard Egyptian stone " found in the gardens of Verospi, near the Salara Gate. They 
composed four Isises, and an Egyptian priest in oriental red granite. Montagnani, 
pi. CV., CVI., CVIL, CVIII., CX. ; Tofanelli, pp. i6and 137 ; Venuti, I. 296 ; court- 
yard of the palace of the Conservators and portico, in their time. These were trans- 
ported to the Vatican in 1838, as has been said. As to the busts, see Forcella, I. 
n. 205. 

2 The two Barbarians, courtyard of the palace of the Conservators ; Endymion, 
room of the Emperors, n. 92. Cf. Helbig, I. 462, 539. The bust of Marcus Aurelius 
was found, with four others, in the*gardens of the villa supposed to be that of Anto- 
nine the Pious (1701) ; gallery, n. 63. Michaelis, p. 56. 

3 Forcella, I. n. 125 ; Tofanelli, p. 148. Room of the She-Wolf. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 57, fol. 176, at the date of the 30th of Aug., 
1727. Forcella, I. n. 223; Ficor.mi, I. 48. Michaelis, p. 58, gives a different origin. 
At present, room of the Geese. The geese, which are really ducks, gave their name 
to the room where they were placed (audience-chamber). Lanciani, Scavz, p. 77 ; 
Michaelis, p. 58 ; Tofanelli, p. 148. 

5 The captains of the people or of appeals were appeal judges whose prerogatives 
were determined by the statutes of 1580, Bk. I., art. 5, but who had existed before 
that date. Inscription recording this lemoval : Forcella, I. n. 224. Cf. note 6, 
p. 204. 

6 This statue was taken, with other Egyptian statues, to the Vatican, Egyptian 
museum, room II., in 1858. 



THE NEW MUSEUM 217 

it came from the abode of the Sesi, where it occupied a promin- 
ent place. 1 

In spite of these additions, the new museum continued to be 
but poorly provided. Its real creator was Pope Clement XII., 
who presented it with part of the fine collection of antiquities 
made by Cardinal Alessandro Albani, the pieces of which had 
been mostly found in the ruins of Anzio (15th of December, 
l 733)- 2 Sixty thousand crowns were paid for it. 3 The bulk 
was composed of the series of Emperors' bust which is one of 
the curiosities of the museum. Remarkable among them were 
the busts of Poppaea, Vitellius, Vespasian (bust "heroically" 
draped in Eastern alabaster), Tiberius, Caracalla, Caligula (in a 
single block of basalt), a woman unknown, the god Pan, Julia, 
wife to Septimus Severus, with oriental head-dress, Domitius 
Aenobarbus, the philosopher Diogenes, Hadrian, Septimus 
Severus, Faustina the younger, Lucius Verus, Antonine the 
Pious, Marcus Aurelius, the last noted as being a perfect piece 
of sculpture, another bust of Hadrian, with a transparent 
alabaster mask, the neck being restored, a bust of Sabina, two 
more of Hadrian, another of Marcus Aurelius, and also of 
Septimus Severus, one of Commodus as a child, two more of 
Marcus Aurelius, busts of Augustus, Quintus Erennius, Julia 
Mesa, Faustina the elder, Hercules as a child; besides the 
foregoing, two statuettes of Diana, and busts of philosophers, 
Seneca, Plato, Epicurus, Ammon; of the poets, Euripides, 
Pindar, Sappho, and a number of others also. The Capitoline 
museum further received, either directly or indirectly, the 
following objects from Cardinal Albani's collection: a bust of 
Homer, two Apollos, a Hunter (Polytimus, 1747), a Minerva, a 
Diana, a Puteal, on which was represented the procession of the 
Gods, the bust of Theon of Smyrna, one of Pitorides, a bass- 
relief, Pan and the nymphs, Aesculapius, a statue of Jupiter, 
Hadrian under the figure of Mars, Lucilla, a male Faun. 4 

1 Michaelis, Coll. Capit., p. 57. Socrates (Helbig. I. 464 ; Fea, p. 159), room of 
the Philosophers, n. 46 ; Diana, portico, n. 52 ; Bacchante, portico, n. 10 ; Juno 
(Righetti, pi. V ; Tofanelli, p. 100), room of the Gladiator, n. 2. Helbig, I. 532, takes 
it to be a Proserpine. The Rome triumphant, in the courtyard of the palace of the 
Conservators, also comes from the Cesi gardens (1720) (Venuti, II. 291 ; Michaelis, 
P- 56). 

2 Therefore this museum is sometimes called the Clementine Museum. With 
regard to the excavations at Anzio, see SofFredini, Storia d? Anzio, p. 87. 

3 The minutes of the purchase deed are in the Archiv. di Stato, Atti Galosius 
D. Segretario di Camera, Prot. 918, fol. 880 ; they contain an enumeration of all the 
objects composing the collection, numbering 408. Relazione delle statue, busti, 
teste, bassorilievi, ervie, urne con bassorilievi, idoli egizii, vast istoriati, leone e 
colonne spettanti alV E7110. Card. Alessandro Albani, raccolta in vero, cofiiosissima 
e singolarissiinafatta con prodiga e scenziata mente dal detto cardinale. 

4 Bust of Homer, room of the Philosophers, n. 44; Apollo, saloon, n. 30-31; 
Hunter, ibid., n. 7 ; Minerva, ibid., n. 8 ; Diana, ibid., n. 26 ; Puteal, gallery, n. 31 ; 

I Theon, room of the Philosophers, n. 25; Pitorides, ibid., n. 65; Pan, ibid., n. no; 



2i8 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Clement XII., moreover, added to the Capitoline collection 
the Hercules killing the Hydra, a mask of Silenus, the Antinoiis, 
a statue of a beardless Roman, called Marius, a colossal woman's 
statue, a Marcus Aurelius, a muse, Thalia, a statuette of Mars, 
a child hugging a bird, a Dacian prisoner (lower portion), a 
Diana, a Niobide, a statue of Augustus, 1 and the one of the 
dying Gladiator which was in the gardens of the Ludovisi villa 
and which he bought in order to offer it to the Capitol; the arm 
had been repaired in the sixteenth century. 2 

The transfer of all these objects was paid for by the Com- 
mune. 3 A beginning was made, in the early days of the year 1734. 4 
The new museum, definitely constituted by these additions, was 
inaugurated in the course of the same yean 

Clement bought, besides, in order to offer it to the museum, a 
collection comprising more than five hundred ancient inscrip- 
tions that had belonged to Ficoroni, for which he paid four 
hundred crowns. 5 

Aesculapius, saloon, n. 5; Jupiter, ibid., n. 1; Hadrian, ibid., n. 13; Lucilla, 
saloon, n. 11 ; Faun, gallery, n. 10. Cf. Helbig, I. 439, 480, 504, 506, 524. The 
Museum of the Louvre possesses a sarcophagus of the Muses from the collection of 
Cardinal Albani, which was formerly in the Capitol. The Faun playing the flute, 
with a bull at his feet, was discovered on the Aventine, in 1749, with another male 
Faun. (Ficoroni, in Fea, Miscellanea, I. p. CLXIV. no. 94.) 

1 Hercules, portico, n. 38 ; mask of Silenus, room of the Faun, n. 8 ; Antinoiis, 
room of the Gladiator, n. 12 ; statue, entitled Marius (Forcella, I. n. 151), saloon, n. 14 ; 
colossal woman's statue, ibid., n. 24 ; Marcus Aurelius, ibid., n. 32 ; Muse 
(Thalia), ibid., n. 35 ; Mars, room of the Faun, n. 12 ; child with the bird, room of 
the Gladiator, n. 9; Dacian prisoner, portico, 11. 21; Diana, ibid., 52; Niobide, 
gallery, n. 48. Cf. Righetti, p. 76 ; Helbig, I. 444 ; Augustus, saloon, n. 10. For the 
others, Helbig, 1. 406, 519, 524. The Gladiator, as well as the Thorn-drawer, the 
Antinoiis, Zeno, Cupid and Psyche, the bust of Brutus, already spoken of, were sent 
to Paris by Bonaparte. The room of the Gladiator was called, in Tofanelli's time, 
the room of recovered Monuments. A certain number of objects, sarcophagus 
representing Tritons, sarcophagus of the Muses, a Hygeia, have remained at the 
Louvre. 

2 Righetti, Pietro, Descrizione del Campidoglio, I. 1 ; Montagnani, II. 72 ; 
Pinaroli, Gio. P., Trattato della cose piu me7iiorabili di Roma, Rome, 1724, t. II. 
p. 326, says that the statue was brought from Prince Livio Odescalchi, Duke of 
Brocciano, at the same time as a statue of Hercules. Helbig, I. 533. 

3 The details of the expenses are in the Bibl. Corsini. Cod. 41, 7, 1, fol. 36. 
" Ristretto delle spese fatte sotto Clemente XII per la collocazione delle statue 
comprate dalcardinale Alessandro Albani in Camfiidoglio. ..." The total expense 
amounted to 10,335:03 crowns |. It is true that advantage was taken of the 
opportunity to make some further acquisitions. "A padre Mansueto procuratore 
dei /rati Carmelitani della nuova chicsa al Monte di Pietci per due statue e due 
busti di marmo antichi da collocare nella galleria e nuovo prospetto della fontana 
DEL NVOVO PALAZZO, sc. 80 ; a Filippo Barigioni per prezzo di una statua da 
collocarsi nel medesimo prospetto, sc. 40 ; al Sig. Napoleoni scultore per restauri 
alle statue e prezzo di due busti antichi, loro trasporto, sc. 208:67^." 

4 Diario di Francesco Valesio; Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XIV. vol 19; Diari 
di Roma dal 1733 al 1736, fol. 67. Sunday, 3rd Jan., 1734: "In questi giorni si e 
dato principio al trasporto delle statue comprate dal papa al Card. Albani." 

5 Inscription recording the Pope's generosity ; it is in the new palace 
courtyard : Forcella, I. n. 234. Other inscriptions were placed in various rooms of 
the Capitol : Forcella, I. n. 233, 231, 232. This Ficoroni was the author of a work 
entitled Le Vcstigie e Rarita di Roma antica, Rome, 1744, in which a good deal 
is s>aid of the Capitol, p. 42. 



THE NEW MUSEUM 219 

If the enriching of the two Capitoline museums was partly 
due to the generosity of the sovereign pontiffs, they began, in 
return, to consider the museums as thenceforward being their 
property : in their letters, in the Acts emanating from the 
pontifical Chancery, the expression u our museums" was con- 
stantly employed. As a matter of fact, they freely disposed of the 
objects contained in them. On the 1st of April, 1737, Clement 

XII. ordered the statue of one of the sons of the Emperor 
Constantine to be transferred to the Lateran portico, in replace- 
ment of his own statue, which had been sent to Ancona. 1 In 
1736, the Sforza-Cesarini gave a bass-relief representing an 
Arch-Gaul (high-priest). The square base on which the labours 
of Hercules are represented was brought from Albano in 1743 \ 
the Harpocrates, in 1744. 2 

Benedict XIV. had some mosaics put in the Capitol (1749), 3 
and some Egyptian statues which came from Hadrian's villa 
(1748) : 4 he presented it also with the celebrated plan of Rome 
(Forma Urbis), then in twenty-six tablets. 5 

The principal antiquities given to the museum of the Capitol 
by Pope Benedict XIV. (1 740-1 758), besides those which have 
just been indicated, were : a child hugging a goose to his 
breast (1741) ; a bust of Agrippa and a priest^s of Isis (1743) ; 6 
the sarcophagus of the Amazons, a figure of a ^rl, the Isis (1744) ; 
an altar dedicated to the god Jupiter Sol Serapis (1745) ; the 
Satyr in red marble (1746) ; a group representing a boy and a 
girl embracing, the Cupid and Psyche (1749) ; a Diana and a 
Jupiter (1750) ; the Venus (1752) ; a group representing a 

1 Cancellieri, Mercato e Lago, p. 245. Clement XII. had ordered the mole to be 
rebuilt. Cancellieri says wrongly that it was the Emperor's statue. Cf. Novaes, 

XIII. 297. 

2 Arch-Gaul, room of the Sarcophagus, n. 3 ; altar of Hercules, room of the 
Canopus, n. 44 ; Harpocrates, saloon, n. 28. Cf. Helbig, I. 420, 425, 505 ; 
Tofanelli, p. 88 ; Fea, p. 194 ; Righetti, I. 17, 62, II. 274, 275. 

3 J. A. Furietti, De Muswz's, Rome, 1752, p. 52. Among others, Hercules at the 
court of Omphale : Helbig, I. 414. 

4 Forcella, I. n. 254. They are the objects collected in the room named del 
Canopo : Fea, p. 190 ; Tofanelli, p. 19. 

5 The plan was found, two hundred years before, behind the church of S. Cosmo 
e Damiano. Inscription recording the gift of this plan : Forcella, I. n. 243' bis ; 
cf. 244, 250. 

6 Montagnani, p. 45. The following inscription was placed under Marco Agrippa's 
bust : 

MVNIFICENTIA 
BENEDICT"! XIV. P. O. M. 

ET DONO 
LACTANTII SERGARDI 
AB INTIMO EJVSD. PONT. CVBIC. 
A. D. MDCCXLIIJ 

(Forcella, I. n. 247. Cf. Bottari and Foggini, II Museo Capitolino^ IV. 35.) Room 
of Philosophers, n. 16. Priestess of Isis, room of the Gladiator, n. 15. Child, room 
of the Faun. 



220 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Roman man and woman as Mars and Venus, a wounded 
Amazon, a statue of a stripling, tbe Myth of Jupiter, a Psyche, 
a woman carrying a vase, an Amazon (1753) ; a Satyr reposing, 
the so-called statue of Zeno ; a disk representing the life of 
Achilles ; a sundial ; a three-faced Hecate ; the tombstone of 
Titus Statilius Aper ; a mask of Pan. 1 The Venus had been 
found near the church of S. Vitale, and bought by the Pope 
from the Stasi family. 2 

Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni gave or sold several objects of 
value to the Capitoline museums, among others, the Diana 
lucifera, the half-nude woman known under the name of 
Marciana, or Plotina, or Giulia, a 3 Hygeia (goddess of health) ; 4 
the intoxicated old woman embracing an amphora had the 
same origin. 5 In 1750, Cardinal Spinelli sent to the Pope the 
bust of Lucilla, wife to Lucius Verus, and the latter sent it, 
in his turn, to Abbe Caccialupi, governor of the Capitoline 
museums, in order that he might put it in the new museum. 

In 1765, Pope Clement XIII. gave to the Capitol the mosaic 
of the Doves and the Centaurs, found, in 1737, by Cardinal 
Alessandro Furietti, in Hadrian's villa near Tivoli. It had been 
sold to the Apostolic Chamber by Count Furietti, nephew 
and heir to the Cardinal, for thirteen thousand ducats. 7 He 

1 Sarcophagus of the Amazons, room of the Faun, n. t8. Tsis, ibid., n. 14. 
Figure of a girl supposed to be Flora (Hadrian's villa), room of the Gladiator, n. 14. 
Group embracing, found in the Aventine, cabinet of Venus. Diana, nine palms 
high (1 metre 75), found a hundred years before, near the Via Barberina, and placed, 
by his order, in the room of the Emperors (Diario del Ckracas, 10th of Jan., 1750, 
and 6th of May, 1752) ; it has disappeared from there. Perhaps in the portico 
(Tofanelli, p. 16). Jupiter, gallery, n. 26. The Venus, cabinet of Venus. Group 
of Mars and Venus, saloon, n. 34. Wounded Amazon, ibid., n. 33. Stripling, ibid., 
n. 21. The Myth of Jupiter, base, ibid., n. 3. Psyche, gallery, n. 20. Woman 
with the vase, room of the Gladiator, n. 6. Amazon, ibid., n. 4. The stela of 
Jupiter serves as a base to the Faun. Satyr or Faun reposing, room of the 
Gladiator, n. 10. Zeno, ibid., n. 3, found in 1701. The disk, room of the 
Sarcophagus, n. 4. Sundial, room of the Emperors, n. 94. Hecate, palace of the 
Conservators. Tombstone of Titus, portico, 2nd room, n. 11. Mask of Pan, room 
of the Faun, n. 29. Cf. Helbig, I. 423, 434, 457, 458, 502, 503, 509, 515, 516, 520, 
521, 523, 525. 527, 528, 530, 619. 

2 Montagnani, I. 103. 

<* Inscription on the base of this statue : 

MVNIFICENTIA 
PETRI OTTHOBONI 
S. R. E. CARD. V. CANCEL. 
(Forcella, I. n. 228. Cf. Righetti, pi. CLXXII. ; Montagnani, II. 34.) Gallery, 
n. 54. Diana, ibid., n. 46. Tofanelli, p. 54; Michaelis, p. 59. 

4 Tofanelli, p. 84. Saloon, n. 29. Another Hygeia has come into the possession 
of the Louvre. 

5 Michaelis, p. 59. It was given by Pope Clement XII., who had received it 
from the Cardinal. (Helbig, I. 431.) Gallery, n. 8. 

b Helbig, I. 447. Gallery, n. 53. Tofanelli, p. 65. The torso of a woman draped, 
octagonal room, was put there in 1750. Helbig, I. 593. 

7 Helbig, t. I. no. 450. Diario manuscript of the Casanatense Library, Cod. 3816, 
under date of the 4th of May, 1765. Centaurs, saloon, nn. 2, 4. Righetti, pi. XIX., 
XXXIV. ; Helbig, I. 450. 512, 513; Tofanelli, pp. 47, 82, 84. 



THE NE W MUSE UM 22 1 

likewise gave the altar dedicated to the Mater Magna, a statue 
of Apollo, and the marble known under the name of the Tabula 
Iliaca. 1 Pius VII. showed himself generous towards the 
museum, as the inscription placed at the entrance to the gallery 
declares. 2 

To Benedict XIV. (1749) was due the creation of the gallery of 
pictures which is at the Capitol. As Venturi says, 3 it is famous 
rather by the place containing it than by the pictures them- 
selves. 

1 Mater Magna altar, gallery, n. 25. Apollo, saloon, n. 20. Tabula Iliaca, 
rooms of the Doves, n. 83 ; found in 1663. Cf. Helbig, I. 436, 454, 510. 

2 Forcella, I. n. 279. Cf. Tofanelli, p. 33. 

3 Venturi, A., La Galleria del Camfiidoglio, Rome, 1890. Cf. Tofanelli, in fine. 




THE CAPITOL IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The Keeping of the Palaces in Repair. 1 

On the 14th of January, 1703, a violent earthquake shook the 
City of Rome. Several edifices were damaged, the audience- 
chamber of the Senatorial palace was cracked, and the front 
nearly collapsed, owing to the breaking of certain chains 
that supported it. 2 Forthwith, the Council had to sanction 
heavy expenses for the damage to be properly repaired ; the 
new chains alone cost more than seven hundred crowns 
(713:74) ; and the other work amounted to 494 164^ 
crowns. 3 

In consequence of what had occurred, the chapel of the 
palace of the Conservators was restored. 4 It had been 
decorated by Nucci with a Virgin painted on slate, by 
Pinturicchio with another Virgin, and by Caravagio with 
pictures representing the four evangelists. 5 

The effects of the shock continued to make themselves felt 
in 1707, when the audience-chamber again threatened to fall in. 6 
It was found necessary to strengthen some of the pilasters 

1 Descriptions of the Capitol in the eighteenth century are found in Deseine, 
Modern Rome (in French), Lyons, 1690, II. 355; Pollnitz, Mei7ioirs, II. 251; De 
Brosses, Fami 'liar Letter (in French), II. 204 ; Labat, Travels in Italy (in French), 
1769, IV. 248. 

2 It will be remembered that, in certain portions, the new facade was merely fixed 
on to the old one. A letter of Clement XL, written with his own hand, to the Con- 
servators, on the 21st of March following, says : " Avendoci il Procuratore fiscale 
di Camfiidoglio esfiosto come nel terremoto passato lafacciata del palazzo Se7iatorio 
ha patito e minaccia di cadere per essersi strappate alc7ine catene grosse che la 
reggevano ordinammo, sentito il parere degli architetti ed il parere di Pietro 
GiacoiJio Patriarca capomastro muratore della Cant. Ap. il riattamento di detta 

facciata. . . ." (Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 57, fol. 107.) 

3 Ibid., vol. it, fol. 147, 169. 

4 The inscriptions were placed in it : Forcella, I. n. 201, n. 212. Cf. n. 147, 148, 
149, relative to the years 1647, 1648, 1649. 

5 A. Nibby, Itinerary of Rome (in French), Rome, 1834, I. 83, and Tofanelli, 
p. 151. 

6 It will be remembered that, in the preceding century, there had been anxiety 
felt with regard to it, on account of the weakening of the foundation work. 



KEEPING THE PALACES IN REPAIR 223 

supporting it. What was proposed was to start from the base 
and to substitute for the stones of which they were composed 
travertine blocks taken, as usual, from the Coliseum ; x but, 
after examination, these blocks were discovered to be too big. The 
work, which was estimated by the people's architect at a hundred 
crowns, was done with ordinary stones by the master mason 
Andrea Maggi ; in payment, he obtained the right to a 
four years 5 free possession of that portion of the Tabularium 
which he had previously rented at fifteen crowns a year for the 
purpose of depositing his timber there ; an equivalent therefore 
to sixty crowns was his remuneration. 2 

From 1709, it was decided that no moneys for repairing 
should be paid, unless the bill had been checked by the Conserv- 
ators and duly authorised by the fiscal office. Now, as the fiscal 
office was the intermediary between the Holy See and the 
Communal Council, this new prescription, seemingly so modest, 
was really a deprivation of the rights which the Communal 
Council had exercised up to then, at least over the palace of 
the Conservators. 3 

During the year 1709, the narrow street skirting the Capitol 
on the north side and leading from the Square to the Arch of 
Septimus Severus, was rendered more accessible, and its decliv- 
ity was lessened. As a consequence, the Gate of Sixtus VI. was 
made impracticable, since it was now much above the level of 
the altered road. The work cost 388:80 crowns. 4 

In 1716, there was some alteration in the interior arrangement 
of the Senatorial palace. A staircase was put in, and the 
ceiling of some of the rooms was raised. The total expense 
amounted to 2,877:56 crowns. 5 The great hall of the palace 
where the Academies were held was painted by Giuseppe 
Ghezzi. 6 In 17 19, Pope Clement XL ordered the Conservators 
to melt up the old bell that was in the Aracoeli campanile 
and to make a new one with the metal. 7 In the same year, 

1 It should, however, be added that the blocks in question had been detached by 
the earthquake of 1703. 

2 Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 42, fol. 1 19-180. 

3 The proof of this dispossession is furnished by the fact that the Council were 
thenceforward compelled to obtain the Pope's consent for even the smallest expenses. 
Thus, with regard to the repairing of a conduit and a ceiling, the fiscal office was 
requested to refer to the Pope. Sitting of the nth of June, 1705. Archiv. Stor. 
Capit., Cred. I. vol. 42, fol. 50. In fact, about this time, the Council even lost their 
name and were thenceforward styled a " Congregation." 

4 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 13, fol. 82. An inscription recorded this work : Forcella, 
I. n. 211. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 15, fol. 351. 

6 Leone Pascoli, Vite de Pittori,Scultori ed Architetti modemi, Rome, 1736, II. 
201. Ghezzi was born in 1634 and died in 1721. As regards the Academies, see 
further on. 

7 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 16, fol. 242 ; Cancellieri, Le due Camjbane, 
p. 56. 



224 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Francesco Princellotti, the sculptor in marble, received instruc- 
tions to carve six capitals, similar to those designed by Michael 
Angelo, in order to ornament the inner courtyard of the new 
palace at the further end of which, at present, stands the statue 
of Clement XII. (1730- 1 740) ; the cost of the labour was 1,808:46 
crowns. 1 In 1728 was restored the picture representing the 
Virgin and the Child which is to-day exhibited, in a much 
damaged state, in the chief room of the Senatorial palace, and 
which then adorned, as no doubt it had since the date of its 
being painted, the top of the main staircase. It is attributed to 
the school of Perugino ; in the eighteenth century, it was 
believed to have been painted by the master himself. 2 

All those who worked regularly or officially for the palace had 
a share in this task : the carpenter, Domenico Giannini ; the 
gilding painter, 'Simone Gidone ; the ironworker, Domenico 
Visco ; the tin manufacturer, Biagio Alsina ; the glazier, Girolamo 
Maes. The price paid was 157:73 crowns. 3 In 1738, some of 
the frescoes in the palace of the Conservators, and, more 
especially, the one representing the Rape of the Sabines, were 
found to be in a very bad state of preservation. The painter 
Pietro Ghezzi was commissioned to restore them. 4 

On several occasions, Benedict XIV. undertook improvements 
in the Capitol. He had a room built, near the portico raised 
on the side towards Mount Caprino by Julius III., in order 
that Roman artists might conveniently carry on in it their 
studies of the nude. He had the two groups of Castor and 
Pollux restored by the sculptor Clemente Bianchi Napolioni, 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 16, fol. 258. An inscription, put up in 1729, 
records that in the pontificate of Benedict XIII. (1724-1730), the Conservators had 
visited the cities that were vassals to Rome : 

BENEDICTO XIII. P. O. M. ORD. PR^ED. ANNVENTE 
S. P. Q. R. 
SVBIECTA FEVDA JAM DIV NON VISITATA 
MAGNIFICO SPLENDORE 
INGENTI SVBDITORVM GAVDIO AC BENEFICIO 
INTEGERRIMA CVRA ET VIGILANTIA 
MARCHIO ANTONIVS NVNES ^ 

JVLIVS RICCIVS ) CONS. 

NICOLAVS PLANCA DE INCORONATIS/ 
SINGVLATIM VISITARVNT 
ANNO DOMINI MDCCXXIX 
Forcella, I. n. 227. 

2 Pietro Vannucci, surnamed Perugino, worked at Rome from 1480 to 1490. This 
Madonna replaced an older one ; see p. 92. 

3 " Nota dei conti degli Artisti che hanno lavorato intorno alV adornamento 
ultimamente fatto per V Imagine della Madonna SS. fiosta nel muro a capo le 
scale nobili del Palazzo della Residenza del! Eccmo. Magistrato Ro. in Campi- 
doglio." Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 19, fol. 231. The petition addressed 
to the sovereign pontiff that he would authorise the work shows the importance 
attached by the Romans to this picture. Ibid., 282. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 100, fol. 101-115. 



THE CLOCK OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE 225 

and paid him for it 250 crowns (1744). 1 In the years following, 
he gave him, to restore, all the statues which ornamented the 
cornice of the three palaces, as well as the one which was at 
the top of the bell-tower, the statue of Rome above the fountain, 
and the two river-gods ; the expense amounted to 634 crowns. 2 
Besides all this, he had the palace of the Conservators raised a 
story higher, on the side towards Mount Caprino, in order that 
the pictures and statues might be put in it for which there was 
no room in the museums. 3 

Clement XIV. restored the ceilings of the two principal rooms 
in the palace of the Conservators ; and to Pius VI. w 7 as due 
the repairing of a number of statues decorating the palaces. 4 

The triangle, formed by the Aracoeli staircase and that of the 
Capitol, was still crowded with old buildings and debris of all 
kinds. Pius VI. undertook trie task of having them cleared 
away ; the work, however, was only achieved in 1818. 5 



The Clock of the Roman People. 

The clock which is to-day in the bell-tower of the Capitol, 
between the first and second stories, and which was called the 
Roman people's clock, because it regulated the City life of 
Rome, was formerly placed on the front of the church of S. Maria 
Aracoeli, a church belonging to the Roman people. 

Mention is made of this clock for the first time in 1412, when it 
was completed by a bell, which was cast by a Milanese master 
named Petrus, and put in position by a Florentine workman 
named Ludovicus ; for, at that period, there were hardly any 
good artisans in Rome, except those that came from beyond its 
walls. Fixed in its place on the 24th of December, it began to 
strike on the 27th. 6 The clock was then on the left of the 
entrance to the church, a little above the round window in the 

1 Payment authorised on the 22nd of Sept., 1744. Ibid., Cred. VII. vol. 39, 
fol. 435- 

2 Montagnani, II Museo Capitohno, I. 44. 

3 Tofanelli, Agostino, Descrizione delle sculture e pitture di Campidoglio, Rome, 
1834, p. 33. Sitting of the 26th of September, 1747 : Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. 
VII. vol. 40, fol. 234. 

4 Montagnani, I. 45. 

•5 Notizie del Giorno, 8th of April, 1818 (Casanatense Library). 

6 " Anno 1 41 2 die veneris 2 mensis decembris de node fuit colata campana pro 
horologio facta de mandato D. N. Papae et posit o in ecclesia B. Mariae de Aracoeli 
per M. Ludovicum de Florentia. Dicta campana f nit facta per M. Pet7-um de 
Milano. An. 1412 die sabbati i\ dec. fnit tirata campana Horologii per M. Anto- 
nium Todesca cum sociis et posit a in frontispichim Eccl. S.M. de Aracoeli pro horis 
Pulsandis. Die martis -21 dicti mensis Decembris incoepti pulsare horas supradicta 
campana Horologii." Muratori, R. Italic. Script., XXIV. 1033. 



226 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

front, as may be seen in the accompanying engraving. 1 Some 
repairs were made to it in 1497. 2 

It had its winder-up, its "moderator" whose office was 
hereditary. 3 In 161 7, the sum of 6:40 crowns was paid to a 
certain Fabio della Pedacchia, for repairs made to the clock. 4 
The commune had nothing else to pay until 1656 ; but, thence- 
forward, there was a whole series of bills, 5 explaining, perhaps, 
why the Pedacchia family were deprived of their charge 
in favour of the Ciogni family, by a pontifical Brief dated in 
1673. 6 

In 1658, a "bridge " had to be constructed for the painter who 
was commissioned to repair the " clock sphere." 7 However, 
there was no cessation of repairing expenses, even with the new 
"moderator's" appointment; in 1676, the clock had again cost 
twenty-five crowns ; in 1678, it cost fourteen. On this last oc- 
casion application had been made to a German clockmaker, 8 
who was entrusted with the keeping in repair, for which he re- 
ceived twenty-nine crowns in four years and eleven months. 9 
In 1 687-1689, he received another eighteen crowns for the same 
work. 10 But the mechanism was quite worn out ; and the Com- 
munal Council, in their meeting of the 18th of August, 1705 
decided to consult the clockmaker of the Apostolic palace and all 
the City clockmakers, as to what had best be done. The opin- 
ions given were apparently very perplexing, since no decision 
was come to before 1723 ; and, at that time, it was resolved to 
limit the expense to twelve crowns. 11 The result was that the 
clock no longer went at all. A Roman clockmaker, Innocenzo 
Ghislerio, was then bidden to present an estimate (ij2^). ]2 The 
clock, by this date, had been displaced, 13 and now occupied 
the front of the building. Traces are still apparent of the 
position in which it was refixed. A deliberation of the Com- 

I Cf. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. Com., an. 1901, p. 267, which reproduces (pi. XIII. , 
XIV.) a similar design preserved at Stuttgart, in the museum, Cabinet of Prints. 

"2 "M astro Domenico di Bartolo77ieo, carpentario, m astro di palazzo," repaired 
the clock. Miintz, The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in French), Innocent VIII. 
Paris, 1898, p. 171. 

3 Enumeration of the officers of the Roman people given by Muziano ; see Cerasoli, 
77 C 0171771. di P. P. Muziano, p. 20. 

4 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 91, fol. 287. Payment of the 26th of June, 
1617. 

5 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. I. fol. 266, 267 ; vol. II. fol. 66. 

6 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XI. vol. 22, p. 160. 7 Ibid., fol. 63. 

8 Sfiesefatte per lorologio della chiesa di Ai'acoeli dal Sig. Pedacchia, sc. 26, 45 
(26th of Jan., 1676). Conto dei avorifatti all orologio di Aracoeli djlV Inclito Po. 
Ro. da Giovanni Wendelino Elsler, orologiei'O, sc. 14. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. 
VI. vol. 5, fol. 77, 165. 

9 Ibid., fol. 252. ' 10 Ibi'f., vol. 7, fol. 81. 

II Ibid., Cred. I. vol. 42, fol. 55. < 12 Ibid., Cred. VI. vol. 72, fol. 69, 73. 
I 3 Such is not the opinion of R. Lanciani, Bull. Archeol. C0771., an. 1901, p. 267, 

who thinks the displacernent was ordered by a Brief of Benedict XIII. dated in the 
year 1728. 



THE CLOCK OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE 22 



munal Council in the same year, 1725, declared that, owing to 
the closing of a door, by order of the Superior of the Minor 
Friars, the keeper was obliged to pass over the roof, in order to 
get to the clock. 1 However, the clock continued not indicating 
the hour ; and, as the matter was one of general concern, Pope 
Benedict XIII. issued a Brief in 1728, ordering its replacement. 
Negotiations went on for a long while. The fiscal office had 
interviews with the Governor of Rome ; and the latter treated 
with , the clock- 
maker Giovanni de 
Sanctis, who had 
been recommended 
to him. Finally, it 
was resolved to de- 
fer the matter till 
the following year. 
Then definite ac- 
tion was taken ; 
and, before the 
twelvemonth end, 
the new clock was 
installed. It had 
cost the Communal 
treasury three hun- 
dred crowns. This 
time, the liberality 
of the Roman Coun- 
cillors was not so 
stinted. They 
painted in fresco 
on the church front, 
round the clock, 
the Senate's ar- 
morial bearings and 
those of the Car- 
dinal - Camerlingo. 




FIG. 44. — ENGRAVING TAKEN FROM THE 
Cose Maravigliose delP alma Citta di 
Roma, Rome, 1595. 



together with garlands and escutcheons. 2 Still, the new clock 
was not a very great improvement on the old one ; for, although 
it had been frequently repaired, 3 it had to be changed at the 
end of the century. In 1771, the Pope was referred to on the 
point; and, after long delay in pronouncing his " oracle," oracolo, 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 72, p. 73. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 72, fol. 220, 223, 239 ; vol. 19, fol. 197. 

f II conservatore ha verificato il sito delV horoloo-io d Aracoeli die ha bisogno 
direstatiri onde si froveda" ( 7 th of Aug., 1741). Other repairs, in 1742; 1747, 
19 crowns ; 1753, 9 crowns ; 1771, 28 crowns. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol 
100, fol. 307 ; Cred. VII. vol. i8 } fol. 353 ; vol. 45, fol. 17 5 vol, 6i, fol. 28. - - - 

Q 2 



228 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

the Conservator, at last, received the authorisation to have it 
restored. 1 

In 1804, the Communal Council bethought themselves that, 
in all the other cities of Italy, the bell-tower of the City hall 
was adorned with a clock, whilst none existed on that of the 
Capitol. Anxious to remedy this inferiority, they made inquiries 
as to the cost of removing the clock from the church, and, 
at the same time, took the necessary steps to obtain from the 
sovereign pontiff the permission to carry out the plan. Pius 
VII. having granted their request, the Council applied to the 
clockmaker Raffaele Fiorelli, who undertook to put a new 
clock in the bell-tower, and to guarantee its going for six years, 
on payment of 250 crowns. The bargain was concluded, and 
he was allowed to keep the old clock for himself. 2 



Festivities held in the Capitol in the 
Eighteenth Century. 

the academies. 

In the eighteenth century, popular joy no longer manifested 
itself by theatrical performances, but by fireworks and the 
letting off of guns and cannons. When Innocent XIII. was 
elected, in 172 1, the people were so full of joy, for he was of 
Roman origin, that they fired from the Capitol two hundred 
mortar discharges. The same thing was renewed at every 
fresh rejoicing, so that the statues and ornaments of the 
palaces suffered some damage. The Fathers of S. Maria 
Aracoeli interfered ; and, with common accord, it was decided 
that the mortars should be taken from where they stood, and 
the fireworks let off at a more suitable distance (1737). 3 

On the 15th of February, 1798, the Roman people planted a 
tree of liberty on the Square of the Capitol, in presence of 
Generals Murat, Berthier, and Cervoni ; four hundred dragoons 
assisted at the ceremony. As soon as the tree was set up, 
marriages were celebrated ; the first was that of Baron Carlo 
Dasti with the daughter of Captain Truglia. 4 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XV. vol. I. fol. 158, 221. 

2 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XVIII. vol. 32, fol. 199,200, 206,213. Deliberations 
of the 24th of Feb., of the 22nd and 24th of March, and of the 8th of Feb., 1805. 
Cancellieri, Le due Camftdne, p. 55. 

3 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 17, fol. 248. The site occupied by the laun- 
dresses was that where now stand the cage of the She- Wolf and the statue of Rienzo, 
in the triangle between the staircase of the Capitol and that ofS. Maria Aracoeli. Cf. 
ibid., vol. 100, fol. 63, and Cred. VII. vol. 18, fol. 109. 

4 D. Silvagni, La Corte e la Societa^ 2nd ed., Florence, 1882, vol. I. p. 458. 



FESTIVITIES HELD IN THE CAPITOL 229 

The ceremonies, however, which then attracted the crowd to 
the Capitol most were special meetings of the Academies. 
These were held there, as well as the regular ones, either for 
the purpose of crowning a laureate or of panegyrising one of 
the members. Commencing from 1702, the drawing Academy 



IMU-JL 




t _ i— — i 

■ - - .... . .,-.._■ -.. ... 







45. — PLANTING OF THE TREE OF LIBERTY ON THE SQUARE 
OF THE CAPITOL IN 1 798. 



met in the new palace of the Conservators : and, at certain 
periods, distributed crowns to its pupils. 1 The architect Carlo 

1 These fetes were of old foundation. II Centcsimo del anno 1695 celebrato in 
Roma daW accademia del Disegno descritto da Ghcsefifie Ghezzi, ftittore, Rome, 
1696. There exists, in eight volumes, a series of descriptions of the fetes given in the 
Capitol by the drawing Academy between 1695 and 1812. It was begun by Giuseppe 
Ghezzi. Casanatense Library, Misc. 4 , 388. Cf. Cancellieri, Le dtte Campane, 
p. 125. 



230 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Balestra subsequently bequeathed his fortune to the Academy 
(ist of June, 1769), in aid of this ceremony. 1 The Academy 
of the Infecondi likewise met at the Capitol. On the days of 
public sittings, the palaces were illuminated with lanterns 
forming festoons, and the fagade was decorated with the 
Academy's armorial bearings, which were symbolical, " a 
field covered with snow," and this consoling motto, Germinabit? 
Benedict XIV. granted a room at the Capitol to the Academy 
of Antiquarians. 3 The Arcadians had one there also ; 4 they 
held eloquence meetings, and celebrated olympiads. In 1771, 
they celebrated, at their fourth olympiad, the reconciliation of 
Pope Clement XIV. with the Emperor Joseph I. ; numerous 
Cardinals and the most illustrious Romans were present at the 
ceremony. The room was adorned with the statues of the 
"five Generals of the Church," whom the quarrel between the 
two Sovereigns had nearly carried into action. 5 An inscription 
recorded this event. 6 

During the same year, Giacomo Casanova, the famous adven- 
turer who was to appear under so many different masks, figured 
at a fete given by the Academy of S. Luca, in the course of 
which crowns and recompenses were awarded to such young 
artists as had distinguished themselves by their painting, 
sculpture, or architecture ; the Arcadian singers enhanced with 
their songs the brilliancy of the ceremony. A sonnet was 
recited by Casanova, who had been admitted as a member, 7 and 
had assumed a surname, that of Aupolemo Pantareno, as did 
all who entered into Arcadia. 8 

The Academy of the Lincei held sittings in the Capitol 
towards the end of the century. 9 

1 The Academy of S. Luca has its present headquarters in the neighbourhood of 
the Capitol, via Bonnella. 

2 Diario del Chracas, 19th of Dec, T733. 

3 Nov e lie Letter arie Jl or entine, p. 220. 

4 See chapter dealing with the coronation of Corilla, p. 232. 

5 Diario del Chracas, 8th of Dec, 1770; 16th of Mar., 1771. 

6 Forcella, I. n. 265. 

7 This sonnet, addressed to the Hercules of the Capitol, is a poor one, as may be 
imagined. It is found in the collection entitled I Pregi delle belle Arti celebrate in 
Campidoglio il 21 April, 1771, p. 71. The anecdote is related by Ademollo in 77 
Fanfulla della Domenica, an. VII. 1885, no « 8. Chracas speaks of it in his time. 

8 This is what he says on the subject in his Memoirs : "... I went out in order 
to go to the meeting of the Arcadians at the Capitol, where the Marchioness d'Aout 
was to recite her reception speech. This Marchioness was a young Frenchwoman 
who had been in Rome for six months with her husband, a gentle and amiable 
person like herself. ..." Edit. Gamier, t. VIII. p. 228. 

9 Sitting of the 16th of June, 1826. Arch. Stor. Capit., Cred. XVIII. vol. 101, 
fol. 45. 



POETICAL CORONATIONS 231 



Poetical Coronations in the Capitol. 

perfetti. 

The second poetical coronation celebrated in the Capitol, that 
of Bernardino Perfetti, took place in 1725. Its pomp was as 
great as that observed in Petrarch's time ; but it seems a piece 
of charlatanism. 

The Academy of the Arcadians presided at it; and, in the 
spirit animating it, there was a lamentable exhibition of the 
false and factitious. 

Perfetti, who was born at Sienna, on the 7th of September, 1681, 
began badly. 1 At eleven months old, he used to recite the Ave 
Maria ; and, at one year old, he composed his first line of 
poetry; at seven he composed sonnets; at twenty, he was pro- 
claimed Doctor, and his works multiplied. He was admitted 
to pronounce a panegyric on the sovereign pontiff in theVatican 
basilica. 2 His reputation was such that he was invited by the 
Grand Duchess Violante (Yolande) of Tuscany 3 to the Court of 
Florence, where life and the arts were beginning to revive, 
after the end of the melancholy reign of the Grand Duke 
Cosmo III. Violante undertook to obtain for him the poetic 
crown of laurel, and, for this purpose, proceeded to Rome, under 
the name of the Countess of Pitigliano. 4 Pope Benedict XIII. 
acceded to her desire, and the coronation ceremony was fixed 
for the 1 2th of May, 1725. Meanwhile, Perfetti, in order to prove 
his merits, was improvising anywhere and everywhere, in 
drawing-rooms, in the Princess's palace, in the large hall of the 
Roman seminary of the Jesuits, where he had to reply im- 
.promptu to twelve questions put to him by the Academicians. 
In Arcadia, he received the name of Alauro Euroteo ; and 
was, at Jast, admitted to the honour of wearing the poet's 
crown. 5 

About the fifth hour of Sunday, the 13th of May, he started 
from the Roman arch-gymnasium in the coach of the Senators; 

1 The biography of Bernardino Perfetti is in Moreri, Michel Giuseppi, Le Vite 
degli Arcadi illustri, part V., 1751, p. 225, composed by Mazzolari ; Fabroni, 
Vitae Italorum, t. III. ed. Romana ; Uomini illustri toscani, t. IV. ; Domenico, 
Ciamfogni, Saggio di Poesie scrittc dal cav. B. Perfetti^ Florence, 1748. 

2 Discorso accademico consistoriale fatto dal Cav. B. Perfetti Patrizio Sanese 
nel darsi il fiossesso delta Signoria il 1706. Del medesimo, Omelia a Clement e XI \ 
Venice, 1715. Casanatense Library, Misc. 4 , no. 564, 12. 

3 Yolande Beatrice of Bavaria, called in Italy Violante, had, in 1688, married the 
hereditary Grand Prince of Tuscany, Ferdinand by name, who died before her, in 
1713. She died in 1731, without having been able to enjoy her right to the Regency 
of Tuscany, owing to the opposition of the Great Powers. 

4 Galluzzi, Hist, del granducato di Tcscana, VII. 202. 

5 Diario del Chracas, 5th-i2th of May, 1725, no. 1209-1212. 



232 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



four other coaches followed, in which were the magistrates of 
the Roman people. A crowd of valets accompanied them ; 
trumpets were blown, and the people cheered. 1 The hall of the 
Capitol had been hung with red-coloured, fringe-edged stuff by 
the architect Alessandro Specchi ; and, in the damask-draped 




\y 



lKJLAVREATO ' 

RXMOF*. : 
ll>A:N-T>A3-A*I 



X 



FIG. 46. — PERFETTI. 



galleries, were the members of the Arcadian Academy, with 
Cardinals, the Roman nobility, and many ladies. Under a 
canopy, stood the Senator, with the Conservators by his side. 

1 The account of this ceremony is in Moreri, and in Gio. Maria Crescimbeni, Atti 
per la solenni ^ incoronazione fatta in Campidoglio del Sig. B. Perfetti, Rome, 
x 7 2 5- # Cancellieri, Le due Campane, gives the Latin description made of it by the 
Jesuit, Cordara (Works, t. IV.). Both had been present at . the ceremony, and 
Crescimbeni took part in it, as an arch-priest of the Academy. 



POETICAL CORONATIONS 233 

It was a superb canopy, which had cost 71:50 crowns; the 
crimson damask that covered it was trimmed with gold lace 
and German gold fringe ; and on it could be seen the Roman 
people's coat of arms, and the portrait of the Pope, who, not 
being able to come himself, had himself represented by his 
counterfeit ; the ceiling of it was in velvet. 1 The Princess of 
Tuscany sat on a separate throne. When the poet had been 
led in, Crescimbeni, the Arcadian arch-priest, addressed him in 
a learned harangue, after which the Senator made him kneel 
down at his feet, and, placing the laurel crown on his head, said 
these words to him : " Eximiitm hoc Poeticae laudis decus quod 
tuo capiti imfto7io sub felicissimis auspiciis Ssmi, DM Nri. 
Papae Benedicti XIII. Eques egregie^ sit publici 71071 minus 
erga te studii argumentitm, quam obsequentissimi aiiimi erga 
amplissimam et plci7ie regiam be?ievolentia?n, qua decor arisP 

Perfetti replied : 

" Poetica laurus immeritae imp sit a fro7iti excelsam Ssmi. 
Patris ac Po7itificis Papae Benedicti XIII munificentiam 
effusamque S. P. Q. R. erga 77ie voluntatem testatur ; qiianim 
utraque, aut ho7iore dig7ios invenit autfacit" 

The Arcadian poets then sang the praise of the laureate ; and 
he, standing in a sort of rostrum which had been prepared for 
him, improvised for a whole hour, to the accompaniment of 
guitars, verses on the past splendours of the Capitol. 

The Senator and the Conservators, not content with having 
so honoured the talent of Perfetti, shortly afterwards conferred 
on him the freedom of the City, and authorised him to add the 
laurel crown to his coat of arms. 2 



GORILLA. 

The poetess Corilla was crowned in the Capitol with the 
poetical laurel on the 31st of August, 1776 ; and this ceremony, 
the remembrance of which was still in the minds of all at the 
beginning of the century following, apparently inspired Madame 
de Stael with the idea of the picturesque scene which 
she makes use of, for the purpose of introducing Corinne to 
her readers. 

Even before being led in triumph to the Capitol, as Petrarch 
and Perfetti, Corilla was famous. Not that she had written much ; 
hardly anything of hers is known, except a few verses ; but she 
knew how to make the most of this little ; and especially 

1 Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 18, fol. 146, 151. In fol. 248, 250 is the 
amount of the other expenses. 

2 He died at Sienna on the 1st of August, 1747. 



234 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

possessed the talent of improvising, which was, at that time, so 
much appreciated in Italy. 1 

Born at Pisa, in 1728, she had carried her celebrity with her 
to various parts of Italy, Rome, Naples, Florence. Maria 
Theresa sent for her to Innsbruck, in order to celebrate there, by 
her poetical improvisations, the marriage of the Archduke Peter 
Leopold with Maria Louisa of Bourbon (1765). The great 
Catherine would have fain had her at her own Court ; and 
presented her with a pension, which the succeeding monarch, 
Paul I., continued to pay her, and Pope Clement XIV. authorised 
her, in consideration of her learning, to own and study the 
works forbidden by the Church. 

She was, as one of her biographers says, esteemed by 
Metastasius, cherished by Frugoni, honoured by Cesarotti and 
Pagani. The great violinist Nardini, who was accustomed to 
accompany her in her declamations, would sometimes lay down 
his violin in admiration. 2 

Her ambition was not satisfied with all this homage, and so 
much solicitation on the part of illustrious personages ; and she 
consequently came to Rome, being aware that there she would 
be able to obtain, without great difficulty, a resounding and 
universal glory. Her expectation was not deceived. The 
Arcadian Academy, which had been founded in 1690, "in order 
to make war on bad taste," as the statutes of the society 
declared, and which now cultivated bad taste with ardour, 
hastened to receive her among its members, on February 16th, 
1775. It was at this same time that she gave up her own 
name, Maria Madeleine Morelli Fernandez, 3 in order to 
assume a more harmonious one, as was fitting, when 

1 The life of Corilla has been related, wiih an exaggeration of detail, by Ademollo, 
Co7'illa Olymftica, Florence, 1887. Amaduzzi speaks of her, at somewhat great 
length, in a letter printed in the Nuova Raccolta di Opuscoli, vol. XXXI., no. VIII. 
Chracas describes her coronation (Diario, ad an.), which is also related in the minor 
work entitled Atti della solenne coronazione fatta in Cainpidoglio delta insigne 
poetessa . . . Rome, 1776. Cf. Silvagni, David, La Corte e la Societa Romana, 
chap. XVIL, which gives the biography of Corilla. Corilla died at Florence in 1800, 
on the 8th of Nov. On her tomb was inscribed only her Arcadian name, Corilla 
Olympica. Her portrait is found in the Collezione di vite e ritratti di uomini e 
donne illustri, Rome, 1821, t. II. 151. In his Memoirs, Casanova writes in 1761 : 
" At Pisa I made the acquaintance of an Englishman who took me to the house of 
Corilla, a celebrated poetess, whom I very much wanted to know. She received me 
very cordially, and had the kindness to improvise on various subjects which she 
allowed me to propose to her. She charmed me less by her grace and beauty tlnn 
by the pretty things she said, in language that was perfect." Ed. Brussels, 1887, 
IV. 423, cap. XVIL 

2 Frugoni, Carlo Innocenzo, born at Genoa in 1692, died in 1768 ; lyric poet. 
Cesarotti, Melchiorre, born at Padua in 1730, died in 1809 ; translated Ossian and the 
Iliad into verse. Pagani, Luca Antonio, born at Pistoja in 1737, died at Pisa in 
1814 ; author of bucolic poems. 

3 She married, at Naples, D. Fernando Fernandez, a Spanish nobleman, who 
became colonel and governor of the praesidium of Ortebello, and died there in 1798. 
Corilla had left him long before. She had a son by him, who died young. 



POETICAL CORONATIONS 



233 



one entered into Arcadia. She chose that of Corilla 
Olympica. 

Shortly afterwards the Communal Council conferred on her 
the freedom of the City. This not was yet enough. Corilla 
aspired to be crowned in the Capitol. Accordingly, she lavished 
proofs of her talent. The Arcadian Academy served her as an 
arena. On the 7th of March, 
1776, the new shepherdess 
improvised, with her habit- 
ual facility, a few pastoral 
poems in presence of the 
wondering members. On 
the 13th of April, which 
was a Good Friday, the 
Academy held an extraor- 
dinary sitting devoted to 
Christ's Passion ; for it is 
not only those of modern 
days who, when they are 
not completely absorbed 
by their religious duties, 
indulge, during fasting- 
seasons and under pious 
pretexts, their customary 
pleasures. Corilla attended, 
and sang on the proposed 
subject with " such fervour, 
movement, and grace" that 
she ravished the audience, 
who were also charmed by 
the sweetness and flexibility 
of her voice. Some days 
later, the Academy having 
decided to receive among 
the shepherdesses Caroline 
Louisa, Margravine of 
Baden and Durlach, Corilla 

made an improvisation on this occasion, to the accompaniment of 
a harp and two violins. Grimm, the Prince of Saxe-Gotha's min- 
ister to Paris, proposed the theme that she had to develop ; and his 
choice raised a point delicate to decide : " Is a century in which 
women are more peculiarly virtuous one in which men are more 
peculiarly happy ?" In her reply, Corilla managed to please the 
women and not to humiliate the men,' which, at any rate, was 
a proof of her dexterity. Such striking successes called for 
an immediate recognition. Corilla's bust was placed in the 




FIG. 47. — CORILLA. 



236 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Academy's meeting -room ; the English sculptor Christopher 
Heweston had modelled it. 

Gorilla's deserts and ambition did not stop here. On the 10th 
of August, the final tests began which were to show whether 
she were really worthy of the supreme honour she desired. 
On that day, she underwent a first examination in the Locanda 
nobile inhabited by Prince Louis of Gonzaga, who was the 
promoter of her coronation. 1 The choice of such a place for 
the test was, at least, imprudent, since every one was aware 
that there was an after-thought in the steps taken by the Prince 
on behalf of Corilla. 2 

Although the examination was not very difficult, it dealt with 
subjects that a woman-postulant for the poetic laurel could 
hardly be expected to know. Saliceti, the Pope's private 
doctor, questioned her on the colouring matter of the iris ; 
Cavalli, on the scale and harmony ; the advocate Cedri, 
on the loss to eloquence caused by the death of Cicero ; 
Petroni asked her to prove that there was no virtue without 
piety ; Devoti, coming back to the usual subjects, gave her 
as a theme " Pastoral life " ; as for Nardini, he asked nothing, 
since the poetess had just been seized with a chill, and "feared 
for her health." On the morrow, a more serious and solemn test 
took place. In presence of an assembly of ladies, cavaliers, 
and writers, insidious questions were put to the postulant : 
Why does fable give Cupid darts wherewith to aim, when he 
is represented with a band upon his eyes ? What was the first 
revealed religion, and who revealed it ? She was next required 
to set forth the arguments that a European should use in order 
to demonstrate to a savage the advantages of a legislation. The 
ladies interposed in their turn ; and Corilla was compelled to 
give her opinion as to whether men or women generally showed 
themselves more faithful. 

In the last test, in which the twelve members of the Academy 
took part, Abbe Testa questioned Corilla on the beautiful in 
art ; Abbe Marzi, on heroic poetry ; the Prince of Gonzaga, 
on the physical and moral proofs of the existence of God. On 
the next day, which was the 20th of August, Abbe Gioacchin 

1 Belonging to the branch of the Marquises of Castiglione, Luigi di Gonzaga, son 
of Leopold, was born at Venice in 1745. The Republic undertook his bringing up 
and education, since his father, in dying, had left him in great poverty. He lived 
for some time at Vienna, then returned to Venice, whence he was banished by the 
Senate on account of some demagogic writings of his. In the same year that Corilla 
was crowned, he published a treatise entitled " Illetteratobuon Cittadino." ^ Some 
of his letters were read in the Constituent Assembly of Paris at the time of its first 
discussions. He died at Venice on the 10th of Sept., 1819. (Litta, Famiglie celebri, 
Gonzaga, table XVII.) 

2 It was repeated that a woman, Violante of Bavaria, had caused a man, Perfetti, 
to be crowned, and that now a man, Luigi di Gonzaga, was causing a woman, 
Corilla, to be crowned. (Bettinelli, Risoj-rimento c? Italia, p. 169.) 



POETICAL CORONATIONS 237 

Pizzi, a great friend of the poetess and the guardian general of 
Arcadia, proclaimed the result of the examination, which, of 
course, was favourable to her ; and he communicated it to the 
magistrates of the Capitol, in order to obtain leave for the coro- 
nation of Corilla in the ancient manner. The latter had already 
taken the matter into consideration. In their sitting of the 25th 
of June, 1776, the Council had decided to ask the sovereign 
pontiff if there was not good cause for the Arcadians, on their 
next meeting together in the Capitol, to be allowed to give, by 
popular and verbal acclamation, the poetic laurel to the 
poetess Corilla. 1 To this the Pope replied : " Ssmus. maiidavit non 
convocari Arcadiam super proposito argumento, i7i reliquis re- 
servavit sibi provideriP The answer was not of good augury. 
Nevertheless Abbe Pizzi presented the sovereign pontiff with 
his " official paper " bearing the mention of the examiners' vote 
(8th of August, 1776), exactly as had been done for the poet 
Perfetti ; and, this time, all obstacles being removed, the Council, 
commissioned the Marquis Ferdinando Raggi to see to the pre- 
parations for the festivity, and the architect Carlo Puri de 
Marchis to suitably decorate the great Consular hall (27th of 
August). 

On Saturday, the 31st of August, towards dusk, Corilla was 
conducted to the Capitol by the Countesses Cardelli, Dandini, 
and Ginassi ; the Swiss guard of the Pope and the Senator's 
militia were drawn up in a double line on the Square of the 
Capitol. Corilla had asked permission to come as far as there, 
simply and without any of the triumphal pageantry to which 
she might have laid claim. The Consular hall had been pro- 
vided with galleries " for the various orders of the nobility " ; a 
canopy took up all the further end of the room, and was covered 
with crimson velvet, the Pope's portrait being attached to it ; 
four seats had been placed under it for the Senator and the 
three Conservators. Tapestry lined the walls and six lustres 
lighted the hall. 

Corilla advanced with a reserved and graceful mien, say the 
narratives, amidst applause and to the sound of trumpets. She 
was close on fifty, and had never been beautiful ; but the enthu- 
siasm of the beholders willingly granted her all the perfections 
needed for the role she was playing. She knelt at the foot of 
the Conservators' throne. The first of the Conservators, Gio. 
Paolo del Cinque, who was clad with the golden robe congruent 
to his dignity, rose and, pronouncing the prescribed words, 2 girt 

1 Text of the petition. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XV. vol. i, fol. 423. 

2 " Eximium hoc laudis Poeticae decus, quod tuo capiti impono sub felicissimis 
auspiciis SS. D. N. P. Pii Sexti. Mulier egregia et nobilis nostra civis, sit ftublici 
non minus erga te studii argumentum, quam obsequentissimi aniiui significatio 
erga amfilissimam illam, et plane regiam benevolentiam, qua decor aris" Corilla 



238 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

her forehead with the laurel, while music sent forth its strains 
and the mortars of the Capitol fired a salvo of a hundred dis- 
charges. The Senate's scribe drew up a report of the ceremony. 

The festivity was concluded by the reading of some appro- 
priate verses composed by Arcadian members, and by a double 
improvisation which Corilla made on the splendours of the 
Eternal City and the high value to be attributed to the laurel 
she had just been crowned with. She also treated of the su- 
periority of modern philosophy over the ancient, and of the 
influence of the Christian religion upon the development of art. 
Then she withdrew to an inner room of the palace, where her 
admirers came and surrounded her. Among them was an 
English lord, the Duke of Gloucester, 1 who was then travelling 
about Europe in quest of emotions. Thus, even to its details, 
the coronation of Corilla strangely resembled that of Corinne. 

In their sitting of the 3rd of October, the Council ratified the 
expenses, which had amounted to 488:50 crowns. 2 

It would seem that this was the culminating point. The dis- 
proportion was too striking between the insignificance of the 
poetess and the brilliant homage that had been paid to her. 
The redoubtable Pasquin, who alone, at the time, was allowed to 
tell the truth, gave currency to a hundred libels, and ridiculed 
both Corilla and the Arcadians to such good effect that the 
laurel crown awarded her became to her, as Abbe Pizzi said, 
a veritable crown of thorns. 3 Moreover, the Arcadia itself was 
not long before it succumbed beneath the raillery of which it 
was the object. 



Inscriptions Commemorating the Visits of Celebrated 
Personages to the Capitol. 

The custom was continued in the eighteenth century of re- 
cording by inscriptions the visits of celebrated personages; 

replied : " Poetica laura ivimeritae imftositafronti, excelsam SS. Patris ac Prin- 
cipis Papae Pii Sexti munificentiam, effusamque Senatus Populique Romani erga 
me voluntatem testatur, quartern utraque aut onore dignos invenit, aut facit." 

1 William Henry, born in 1743, died in 1805. 

2 Aichiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. XV. vol. 1, fol. 444. 

y The following distich was repeated, in which allusion is made to the expulsion of 
courtesans by Pope St. Pius V. : 

Plaudit e, lascivae. Quintus vos exfiulit Urbe : 
Sub sexto refert serta Corilla Pio. 

In the work of Ernesto Masi, La Vita, i Tempi e gli A?7iici di Francesco Albergati, 
are some letters giving the counterpart of the pompous descriptions made by friends 
of the poetess. In them we read : ' ' Corilla fu condotta in Campidoglio nella carrozza 
del principe Gonzaga in compagnia di tre patrizie alquanto scadenti ; notte tempo 
e sgaiottolando per straduccie solitarie. Sali al Palazzo Senatorio non per la via 
maestra, ma per i rompicolli di Campo Vaccino ; la coronazione anddper le brevi: 
.ed il, principe Gonzaga, temendo per la suaprotetta y la fece riaccompagnare da 



THE "LOTO" 239 

Frederick Augustus, who came in 1738 ; x Maria Antoinette 
Walpurgis of Bavaria, wife to Frederick Christian, Elector of 
Saxony, in 1771 ; 2 Maximilian and Maria Christina of Saxony, 
children of Francis I., Emperor of Germany, in 1776 ; 3 their sister 
Maria Amelia, wife to Ferdinand I., Duke of Parma, in 1783 ; 4 
Ferdinand IV. and Maria Caroline, sovereigns of the kingdom of 
the two Sicilies, in 1791 ; 5 and, last of all, Francis I., Emperor of 
Austria, in 1819, 6 were honoured in this way. 



The " Loto." 

On the 7th of September, 1725, the pontifical government 
issued an edict forbidding in fterftetuum, the game of the loto. 
The penalties with which offenders were threatened were 
exceedingly severe, the galleys, and a fine of a thousand crowns 
for whoever organised the game, a three hundred crowns' fine, 
plus corporal punishment, and even the galleys, for Avhoever 
played : and for women, imprisonment. 7 Two years later, 
Benedict XIII. deemed it necessary to renew his prohibition 
by a Brief dated the 12th of August, 1727, which begins : 
" Creditae Nobis divinitus? 8 His successor, Clement XII., had 
a notice posted up in all the sacristies, confirming the 
excommunications and other penalties pronounced against those 
playing at the game of the loto (7th of July, 1731 ). 9 

However, on the 7th of January following (1732), an edict of 
the pontifical treasurer, Carlo Maria Sacripante, organised the 
game of the loto in Rome. 10 It was prescribed that the loto- 
drawings should take place nine times a year, commencing on 
the 14th of the following February, on the Square of the Capitol. 11 

alcuni suoi brcvvacci arm at i, i quali fires ero a legnate certe abatucoli, che col favor e 
delle tenebre davan la baja alia poetessa laureata" The Pope made her quit the 
City and forbade the sale of her portraits. 

I Forcella, I. n. 242. 2 Forcella, I. n. 266. 3 Forcella, I. n. 268. 
4 Forcella, I. n. 270. 5 Forcella, I. n. 271. 6 Forcella, I. n. 284. 

7 Diario del Valesio. Cf. Cancellieri, Mercato e Lago, p. 244. The edict recalled 
previous decisions of the same kind made since 1660. In 1663, Alexander VII., at the 
request of King Philip IV., had prohibited lotteries in Spain by his Bull " Past oralis 
officii" of the 2nd of January. 

8 At this date there appeared a dissertation of Girolamo Ercoli, entitled : Delgioco 
del Lotto che sia degno di essere per tutto prohibito e che giustamente sia stato 
vietato s otto pen a di scomunica con una bolla dipapa Benedetto XIII, Rome, 1728, 

9 Valesio : "Sabato, 7 Luglio, 1731. Oggi si e mandato biglietto per tutte le 
sagrestie di Roma in stampa, nel quale si fa sapere che S. B. conferma la sco- 
munica e le altre pene co7)iniinate ai giucatori e firenditori del Loto." 

1° The motives for this change of attitude are not explained in the above-mentioned 
edict. The use which the sovereign pontiff meant to make of the sums produced by 
the game of the loto, and which, as will be seen, he did make of it, no doubt justified 
in his eyes the abandonment of his previous attitude. 

II Bando generate softra il nttovo Lotto di Roma. ". . . Ordiniamo che il nuovo 
giuco dei Lotti da far si nove volte V anno , , . dovra effetuarsi per la prima volt ct 



240 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

The choice of this spot was probably intended to increase the num- 
bers of those taking part in the lottery, as also of the spectators. 
It was, in fact, an event of considerable importance. A gallery 
had been erected near the statue of one of the Dioscuri, at the 
top of the great staircase of the Capitol ; 1 it was covered with 
velvet and damask. Prelates of the Apostolic Chamber, as well 
as a commissary and some magistrates, had taken their places 
in it. The box for holding the numbers was a copper urn 
silvered over ; the numbers, which were ninety ivory balls, were 
put inside, in the sight of everybody ; and a child, chosen from 
among the orphans assisted by the City, and clad all in white, 
drew five out ; a man, known for his sonorous voice, called out 
the winning numbers. The operation lasted two hours ; and the 
profit made by the pontifical government during the first year 
exceeded five hundred thousand crowns. 2 

Still, the authorities prohibited publicity in the matter. They 
prevented dealers from posting up lists of the winning numbers, 
and from displaying painted or printed advertisements. 3 On the 
other hand, the names of ninety poor girls were inscribed on 
long cards ; on each card there was a number ; and those girls 
whose names happened to be on the five winning numbers re- 
ceived a dowry of thirty crowns, when they were married or 
took the veil. 4 

The drawing of the lottery was transferred, ten years later, 
in 1743, t0 the large loggia of the Curia Innocenziana (to-day 
the palace of the Parliament). 5 

il 14 Febbr. prossimo nella piazza di Camfiidoglio." Casanatense Library, Collezione 
Bandi, 1732, no. 6. Another book was then published, this time in verse ; it was less 
bitter than the preceding and had as its title : In numerorum divinatores vulgo 
cabalistas, carmen ; its author was the Jesuit Cesare Cordara (1733). It is in the 
Raccolta ofiusculi del Calogera, vol. XII. p. 215. 

1 So near indeed that the statue was damaged in the following years, and had to be 
guarded by a detachment of troop-. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. VI. vol. 100, p. 216. 
Sitting of the Communal Council of the iothof Dec, 1739, " Ad eJFetto che non res- 
tino ulteriormente dannegiate le statue dei Giganti dalle persone in occasione delV 
estrazione del Lotto, il Conte Ottieri fiarli con Mons. Ricci Commissario delle armi 
perche nei giorni del! estrazione faccia custodire dai soldati le dette statue." 

2 This profit was at once divided by the Pope among the charitable institutions and 
the churches of the city. The church del Bambin Gesu was built with money from 
this fund ; those of S. Pancrazio, S. Pietro in Montorio, S. Lorenzo in Borgo received 
sums varying between three hundred and two thousand crowns, which were 
employed in their restoration. Five hundred crowns were devoted to the purchase 
of books for the Vatican Library, and thirty thousand crowns to the work of 
deviating the Ronco near Ravenna. (Casanatense, Miscell., fol. 140.) 

3 nth of March, 1732. Casanatense Library, Collez. Bandi, ut supra, no. 29. _ 

4 Minutes drawn up by the notary Galosius, who presided, in 1733, at the drawing 
of the lottery. Archiv. di Stato, Prot. 918, fol. 91, 219, 403. Extractio quinque 
puellarum. An association was commissioned to superintend the organisation of 
the lottery. It regulated its working. Casanat. Libr., Collez. Bandi, vol, 43, 
no. 14. 5 Diario del Chracas, ad an., 2 February. 



APPENDIX 

The Church of Santa Maria Aracoeli. 

The custom that the first Christians had of raising, on the site 
of pagan temples, churches dedicated to forms of the Divinity 
which as nearly as possible recalled those previously honoured, 
induced them to consecrate to the Virgin the church which, on 
if ? P A M Mou ,'' re P lace d the temple dedicated to Juno, 
who had been considered as the Dea Virgo Celestis, or simply 
JJ?^ T ° th £ deit y was a] so given the name of/uno 
Monetay .She was the Counsellor or adviser ; and this role of 
hers explains the legend that grew up concerning the church of 
the Capitol ; for the superstitions and fancies of the Middle Ae-es 
were almost always intimately connected with the reminiscences 
and realities of preceding epochs. 2 nmscences 

The general opinion is that the Santa Maria Church was built 

rVJ 1 r TV° f the ^ m P le > ^out 590 a.d, in the time of St. 

Saffi A, i^? 111 the *?, menti ° n made of il is ^ the 
J Ia / thlS date > u was calIed San ta Maria in Capitolio 

AMa^Ca^J™ B T enedktine T™?^ wh ° Se abbot was W 
Abbas Capitolu* To the monks of this establishment it was 

1 See pages 20 and 22. 

P™»«= ass*? £?%&**&& ; i ui ? 

Romana di Arch ., Ser. II. vol VI n ., 0,0 t„ £• ' n V» y^PP^ ^<*fc£ 
XLV wp rwrl • " JrZL,- -?V P ' 33 I 7349- In Cicero, Zte Divinatione. Bk I 

seem justified since a TeS of ! v / fi e Gr - Gat ; - but thls ass ertion does not 
- Mabillon, jf^ /<rifcj „. , 6l . Nibby> lx c . it p _ 342 . Armell . n . ; p _ Mo 



242 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

that the Antipope, Anacletus, made the donation of the Capito- 
line Mount which has already been mentioned. 

On the 26th of June, Pope Innocent IV. transferred the abbey 
and its appurtenances to the Minor Friars of St. Francis by his 
Bull " Lamp as insignis coelestium, " in which he designated the 
abbey under the name of Monasterium Sanctae Mariae de 
Capitoiio. 1 The Franciscans restored and beautified the church • 
they commissioned Pietro Cavallini to make in the chancel an 
Ambo in mosaic, which was pulled down in 1 561, by the order of 
Pius IV., to allow of the friars having their place in the chancel. 
Cavallini is said to have also represented in mosaic the meeting 
of Augustine and the Sibyl, which was supposed to have occurred 
at this spot. 

It was, in fact, about the same time that the legend obtained 
credence which gave the church its name of Aracoeli ; but one 
needs to go further back for its origin, which lay in the opinion 
that two masters could not reign, simultaneously, upon earth, 
and that, since Jesus had appeared, the Roman Caesar must 
yield to him. Orosius expresses this opinion when, after 
speaking of Christ's birth, he says : Eodemque tempore hie, ad 
quern rerum omnium summa concesserat, dominum se " ho mi- 
nimi adftellari non ftassus est; imo non ausus, quoverus domiiius 
totius generis humani inter homines natus est." 2 The conviction, 
in spreading, assumed two forms. In the west, it contented 
itself with symbolising the dispossession of Caesar, whereas, in 
the east, there was an additional substitution of new prophets 
for the old, of a new divinity for the old ones. 3 It is of the 

1 Wadding, II. 78 ; Calogera, Opusculi, XX. 103. This Bull is not in the Magnum 
Bullarium. The transfer was confirmed by Pope Innocent IV. in 1251, and by Pope 
Alexander VI. in 1259. Muratori, R. Italic. Script., Ill 592. The Catalogo delle 
Abbazie romane, drawn up by Pietro Mallio and Giovanni Diacono, about the end 
of the twelfth century, mentions : " S. Maria in Capitoiio, ubi est ara Filii Dei." 

2 A. Orosii, Historiarum adversus Paganos Libri VII, Mayence, 1615, I. VI. 
c. 22, p. 451. Cf. Graf, Roma nella memoria . . . del medio aevo, Turin, 1882, I. 
310, who has made a deep study of the history of this legend. 

3 Jacques de Voragine narrates, in the Golden Legend, c. VI. De Nativitate. 
(Lyons edition, 1554, fol. 8 ; cf. Th. Graesse, 1890), both of these legends. "Cum 
ergo {Octavianus) in die nativitatis domini consilium super hac re convocasset et 
Sibylla sola in camera imperatoris oraculis insisteret in die in medio circulus 
aureus appartcit circa solem, et in medio circulivirgo foilcherrima stans super aram 
puerum gestans in gremio. Tunc Sibylla hoc Caesari ostendit. Cum autcm 
imperator ad praedictam visionem plurimum ad7niraretur, audivit vocem dicentcu 
sibi : Haec est ara Dei coeli. Dixitque ei Sibylla : Hicpuer major te est, et ideo 
ipsum adora. Eadem autem camera in honore sanctae Mariae dedicata est, unde 
usque hoc dicitur sancta Maria ara coeli ; intelligens eni7ii imperator quod hie 
puer major se erat, ei thura obtulit : et Deus de caetero vocari recusavit. De hoc 
autein Orosius it a dicit : Octaviani tempore hora circiter tertia coe lo repent e 
liquido ac puero et sereno circulus ad sped em caelestis arcus orbem so lis ainbivit 
quasi venturus esset, qui ipsum solem solum mundumque totum et fecisset et 
regeret. Haec Orosius. Idem ait Eutropius. Refert quoque Timothaeus historio- 
grafus se in antiquiis Romanortim historiis invenisse quod Octavianus XXXV 
regni sui anno Capitolium ascendit, et quis post se rempublicam gubemaret a di/s 



APPENDIX 



243 



latter version that the most ancient traces are found. Augustus, 
wishing to know who would succeed him, went to the Pythian 
priestess, who, at first, gave him no answer ; then decided, at 
last, to tell him he must quit his abode, because a Jewish child 




FIG. 48.— CHURCH OF S. MARIA ARACOELI. THE CLOCK OF THE 

Roman people, (p. totti, Ritratto di Roma Moderna 16^7 
p. 408.) ' :)/ ' 



was born who had reduced the gods to submission, and to 
order the temples to be forsaken. Hearing this, the Emperor 

sollicite requisivit. Et audivit vocem sibi dicentem : Puer aethereus ex Deo invent e 
sine tempore gemtus non multum post ex intemerata virgine Deushomo nasciturus 
sine macula- hoc aiuiito ibi aram aedificavit, cui hunc titulum insert fisit : Haec 
estarafihiDeiviventis. Secundo, &c." Cf. Arnold von Harff, Die Pil<r er fahrt 
• • • 1497; Cologne, i860; Italian translation, Arch.. Veneto, XI. I. p. 140. 

R 2 



244 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

had an altar raised on the Capitol, with the inscription : altar 
to the first-born of God, Ara Primogeniti Dei. 1 

The western form of the legend is found in the Mirabilia : 
" The Senators seeing the Emperor's beauty, which was such as 
to make it impossible to look him in the face, and his unparal- 
leled prosperity by which he had subjected the world to his 
laws, told him that so many advantages could not have been 
granted him if he had not been a god. He went therefore to 
consult the Tiburtian Sibyl on the matter, who asked to reflect for 
three days, during which she had recourse to her divinations, 
whereafter she told the Emperor that a king had come from 
Heaven to judge the earth throughout the centuries, and 
that this king had assumed a human form. Then the heaven 
opened, and a radiance appeared, amidst which the Emperor saw 
a virgin of marvellous beauty standing on an altar, with a child 
in her arms. While he was wondering at the sight, a voice from 
on high reached his ears: 'This Virgin,' said the voice, ' shall 
conceive the Redeemer of the world.' And again: 'She is the 
most cherished daughter of God.' The Emperor immediately 
prostrated himself and adored the Christ. He related his vision 
to the Senators. It appeared to him in his chamber on the spot 
where now stands the church of Santa Maria in Capitolio, 
which is why the edifice is now called the church of S. Maria in 
Ara Coeli." 2 

This version, subsequently, underwent curious transforma- 
tions. The Sibyl was named Ara Coeli. Augustus summoned 
all the wise men. He did so from modesty or because he 
feared, that a more powerful monarch than he being destined to 
succeed him, the honours rendered to himself might later turn to 
his confusion. 3 It was also related that an emperor had 
erected, on this spot, a temple fated to last, as the oracles said, 
as long as no virgin should bear a child; the temple fell in, on 
the birth of Jesus. 4 This was one of the forms of the thought 
which facts justified, and which was so often and so diversely 

1 Joannes Antiochenus, surnamed Malala, a writer of the sixth century ; Historia 
Chronica, then Cedreno, Suidas, Nicephorus ; Malala quotes Timothy. Cf. G. B. 
de Rossi, Bullettino di Archeologia Christ., 1894, p. 85. 

2 Mirabilia, ed. Parthey, pp. 33, 34. The narration of the Graphia reproduced 
this with but few variations ; no mention, however, is made in it of the church. It 
terminates with these words, in which the influence of the eastern tradition is felt : 
" A Haver o die, dum ftopulus dominum illu7ii vocare decrevisset, statim manu et 

. vultu rej>ressit. Nee etia7n a filiis dominum se afifiellari fiermisit, dicens : Cum 
si7n mortalis dominum me dicere nolo." Ed. C. L. Urlichs, 1871, p. 120, line 33. 

3 A. Graf, t. I. p. 315. 

4 Gregorovius, II. 497, 524, 525. Borsari, Tofiogr. di Roma antica, p. 202, and 
Gatti, Atti delV Accad. Po7itif. dei Nuovi Lincei, an. 1896, p. 331, are of opinion 
that the name Aracoeli comes from Ara Virginis Coelestis, which was contracted 
into Ara Coelestis, since the Juno Coelestis was called indifferently, as has been 
said, Virgo Coelestis, Dea Virgo Coelestis, or simply Coelestis. It has even been 
maintained that Coelestis might have been read : Coeli est. 



APPENDIX 



245 



expressed in the Middle Ages, to wit, that the advent of Christi- 
anity necessarily involved the overthrow of the ancient 
world. 

It is only natural, since the legend grew up first, without the 
place of the vision being fixed, that a locality should have been 
assigned to it in the temple of the Virgo Coelestis, first of the fe- 
male divinities of Rome and having as her prerogative the task 
of warning and ad- 
vising the Romans. 
Now it may also 
be that the name 
Aracoeli does not 
come from Ubi est 
ara filii Dei, but 
from Arce, since 
the temple was 
built on that part 
of the Capitoline 
Mount which was 
called the Arx ; or 
it may come from 
Aurocoelo, a name 
given to certain 
churches, notably 
to a church in 
Pavia. 1 However 
this may be, the 
name S. Maria in 
Aracoeli, or simply 
Aracoeli, became 
the definitive title 
of the church of 
the Capitol. An 
archaic inscription, 

engraven on an altar in the chapel of St Helena, recorded the 
legendary origin of this appellation : 

LVMINIS HANC ALMAM MATRIS QVI SCANDIS AD AVLAM 
CVNCTARVM PRIMA QVAE FVIT ORBE SITA 
NOXAS QVOD CAESAR TVNC STRVXI V OCTAVIANVS 
HANC ARA COELI SACRA PROLES CVM PATET EI.2 

The church possessed an image of the Virgin, attributed to 
St. Luke, which, during the Great Plague of 1348, procured it 
abundant offerings, utilised in building the staircase that leads 
to it. There are one hundred and eighty steps in it. Lorenzo 




FIG. 49. — S. MARIA ARACOELI. (GERMAN 
ENGRAVING OF THE BEGINNING OF THE 
CENTURY.) 



1 Armellinij Le Chi se di Roma, p. 141. 



2 Armellini, p. 541. 



246 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

di Simone Andreozzi built it with stones taken from the temple 
of Quirinus on the Quirinal. 1 About 1460, Cardinal Oliviero 
CarafTa rebuilt the arches of the two side aisles of the church ; 
and, in '1 561, Pius IV., renewing a prescription which Paul IV. 
had issued, but which had never been carried out, had part of 
the funeral monuments taken away with which the church was 
crowded. 2 Leo X. gave a cardinal's title to the Aracoeli church. 
In 1564, the door was opened which gives issue on to the Square 
of the Capitol, through Vignola's portico. It was Alessandro 
Mattei who placed, in the small window above the door, the 
mosaic representing the Virgin, between two angels, which may 
still be seen there. Previously, egress was obtained by a door 
that opened where now stands the chapel of S. Matteo. It 
gave issue into the cemetery and near the obelisk. 3 Gregory 
XIII. ordered that all those possessing chapels in the church 
should restore them ; but the necessary repairs were only made 
under his successors. In commemoration of the victory of 
Lepanto (1571), a gilded ceiling was put up, not, as has been 
generally written, in the same year, but in the course of the 
years following. 4 

These embellishments were carried out at the people's 
expense, since they were the owners of the church. It has been 
seen that the City magistrates often held sittings, especially 
puring the fifteenth century, in the cloisters of the monastery 
and under the church porch. In the year 1445, Pope Eugenius 
IV. recognised the people's rights over the church and its 
appurtenances. 5 

1 Nardini, Ro7na antica, p. 184 ; Panciroli, Tesori nascosti di Roma, 1625, 

P- 6 9- 

2 Among these monuments, still very numerous, the inscriptions of which have 
been collected by Forcella, is that of Biondi or Blondi, the describer of Rome, whose 
work has been already quoted. Forcella, I. n. 519; P. Casimiro, p. 28 ; Terribilini, 
Le Chiese di Roma, MS. in the Casanatense Library, 2183, p. 120. 

3 Boissardus, J. J., Romanae Urbis Topog., p. 26. 

4 Sitting of the 20th of Nov., 1571. The battle had been fought on the 7th of 
September. Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. I. vol. 38, fol. 347. On the 19th of June, 
1572, Pope Gregory XIII., by a motu proprio, authorised the Communal Council to 
deduct from the gab el I a dello studio the funds required for the work. " Cum, sicut 
accepimus, dilecti filii . . . in memoriam gloriosissimae victoriae . . . laquear 
fabricari, ornari et decorari facere decreverunt. . . .-" Archiv. Stor. Capit., Cred. 

I. vol. 38, fol. 381. 

5 By a Bull addressed to the Senators, Conservators, and caporioni, whom he com- 
missioned to be for ever the protectors of the monastery and the monks. The Bull 
does not figure in the Magnum Bullarium ; Vitale, Storia diplom. de' Senator! di 
Roma, II. 413, gives it. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Complete or partial monographs on the modern Capitol will be found 
in the following works : 

Montagnani, Mirabili Pietro Paolo, 77 Museo Capitolino, Rome, 
1828. 

Re, Camillo, II Campidoglio e le sue adiacenze, Bullettino della Com- 
mis. archeologica comunale di Roma, an. X. 1882. 

Gerardi, F. , Scoperta di pregevoli avanzi del antic pal azzo Comunale, 
ibid., an. XXVII. 1899. 1 

Lanciani, Comm. R., Lo Monteo Tarpeio, ibid., an. XXIX. 1901. 

Huelsen, Christian, Bilder aus der Gesckichte des Kapitols, Rome, 

l8 99 : 

Michaelis, A., Michelangelo's Plan zum Capitol, Zeitschrift fiir 
Bildende Kunst, May, 1891. 

Michaelis, A., Stoma della Collezione Capitoiina di Antichita, 
Mittheilungen der kaiserlich >deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, 
Roemische Abtheilung, Band VI. Rome, 1891. 

Nomenclature of some of the works and articles of Reviews in 
which mention is made of the modern Capitol, with indication of the 
passage. (See also the chapter devoted to the formation of the 
Capitoline museums. ) 

Aldrovandi, Ulisse, Delle Statue Antiche di Roma, Rome, without 
date, p. 268. 

Biondo or Blondo, Flavio, De Roma Instatirata libri ires, Venice, 
1510, Bk. I. n. 66. 

Bottari, Giovanni, Raccolta e spiegazione delle sctdture, t. IV. , published 
by De Rossi, Rome, 1 741-1782. 

Borghesi, Bartolommeo, Ntwvi Frammenti dei fasti consolari 
capitolini, Milan, 1818. 

Burnet, G., Travels in Switzerland and Italy . . . in the years 
1685 and 1686 (in French), Rotterdam, 1690, p. 348. 

Cancellieri, Francesco, Le dtte miove Campane di Campidoglio, Rome, 
1806. 

1 M. Gerardi is preparing a work on the Steimni, the escutcheons and armorial 
bearings that adorn the Capitol both inside and outside. 



248 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Capobianchi, Vincenzo, Degli stemmi primitivi del Commune di 
Roma, Archiv. della R. Soc. Romana di St. Patria, vol. XIX. 

P- 347- 

Castellani, Augusto, Le Aedes Thensarum sul Campidoglio, Bull. 
Arch. Comu., an. V. 1877., p. 66. 

Cavalleriis, Io. Bapta. de, Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Romae, 
auctore, without date, 16th century. 

Conde, the Prince of, Traveh in Italy (in French), Paris, 1636, 

P- 133- 

Coyer, Travels in Italy by Abbe — (in French), 1775, t. I. p. 169. 

De Brosses, Familiar Letters of the President (in French), Paris, 
1885, Let. XLV. 

Deseine, Francois, Description of the City of Rome (in French), 
Lyons, 1690, t. I. p. 194, t. II. p. 151. — Modern Rome (in French), 
Paris, 1713, t. II. p. 499. The text is the same. 

Donato, Alexander, Roma vetus ac recens, Rome, 1639, pp. 106 
to 183, liber secundus qui Capitolium et loca circumiacentia com- 
plectilur. 

Fauno, Lucio, Delle Antichita di Roma, Venice, 1548, Bk. II. c. I. 
fol. 28. 

Fea, Carlo, Nuova Descrizione di Ro?na antica e moder?ia, published 
by Angiolo Bonelli, Rome, 1821, p. 188. 

Fea, Carlo, Nuova Descrizione de Monumenti contenuti nel Vaticano 
e nel Campidoglio, Rome, 18 19, p. 176. 

Felini, Pietro Martire, Trattato nuovo delle cose meravigliose di 
Roma, Rome, 1625, p. 153. 

Ficoroni, Francesco de, Le Vestigie e rarita di Roma antica, Rome, 
1744, cap. X. pp. 41 to 67 , Del Monte Capitolino e delle memorie che 
vi si vedono. 

Fulvio, Andrea, Antiquitates Urbis Romae, without date. The Brief 
of Clement VII. authorising its publication is of the 15th February, 
1525, Bk. II. fol. XVI. De Capitolino Monte et ejus priscis orna- 
mentis. 

Gaddi, Gio. Batta., Roma nobilitata nelle sue fabric he, Rome, 1736, 
pp. 129 to 202, 77 Campidoglio illuslrato. 

Gamucci, Bernardo, DeW Antichita della Citla di Roma, Venice, 
1565, p. 18. 

Gatti, G., Le Scholae delle Arti in Campidoglio, Bull. Arch. Comu., 
an. XXII. 1894, p. 360. 

Gatti, G., Le recenti scope7'ti sul Campidoglio, Bull. Arch. Comu., 
an. XXIV. 1896, pp. 119, 187. 

Gatti, G., Di una antica iscrizione che ricorda la Dea, " Virgo 
Caelestis," Rome, 1897. 

Govi, G. , Antiquarie prospeitiche romane composte per Prospeitivo 
Milanese dipintore, Rome, 1876. 

Guasco, Francesco Eugenio, Musaei Capitolini Antiquae Inscrip- 
tiones, Rome, 1775. 

Guattani, Giuseppe Antonio, Roma descritta edilhtstrata, Rome, 1895, 
t. I. p. 100. 

Gronovius, Jacobus, De Clivio Capitolino, Lugd. Batav., 1696. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 

Huelsen, Christ., Vednte di Martino Heemslerck, Bull. Arch. Comu., 
1888, p. 153. ^ 

Itinerario istruttivo delle magnificenze di Roma, Rome, 1764, p. 44, 
Campidoglio e suoi palazzi. 

La Lande, Travels of a Frenchman in Italy (in French), Venice, 
1769, t. IV. p. 261, Collection of statues and paintings in the Capitol ; 
p. 287, Description of the Capitol. 

Lanciani, Coram. R. , // tempio di Giove Oltimo Massimo, Bull. Arch. 
Comu., vol. III., 1875, p. 165. 

Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi di Roma, Rome, 1 902- 1903. 
Letarouilly, The Edifices of Modern Rome (in French), Paris, 
1825-1857, p. 721. 

Magnan, D., The City of Rome (in French), Rome, 1778, t. IV. p. 2, 
Quarter of the Capitol. 

Marlianus, Barth., Urbis Romae Topographia, Basle, 1550, p. 23, 
Bk. II. , Be Capiiolio. 

Martinelli, Fiovarante, Roma ricercata, Rome, 1664, p. 79. 
Martire, Pietro, Frattato Ntwvo . . . della Citta di Roma, Rome, 
1611, p. 361. 

Mauro, Lucio, Le Antic hit a de la Citta di Roma, Venice, 1556, p. 11, 
and Le Antichitct della Citta di Roma, Venice, 1558, p. 5, Bel Colle 
Capitolino. 

Mayer, Mattheus, Roma septicollis antiqua, Rome, 1677, P- 2 ? Be 
primo colle. 

Mirabilia Urbis Romae, ed. Parthey. 

Misson, Maximilien, Travels in Italy (in French), The Hague, 17 17, 
II. 228. 

Miintz, E., The Antiquities of the City of Ro?ne (in French), Paris, 
1886, pas si m. 

Miintz, E., The Arts at the Court of the Popes (in French), Paris, 
1 878-1 882, /^jYot. 

Miintz, E., The Museum of the Capitol and the other Roman collections 
at the end of the i$th and the beginning of the 16th centuries (in French), 
Paris, 1882. 

Museo Capitolino, Bescrizione delle Antic hit ct del nuovo palazzo, 
Rome, 1750 (the author is the Marquis Giampietro Lucatelli). 
- Nardini, Famiano, Roma antica, Rome, 1704 ; at the end are found : 
Memorie di varie antichita irovate in diversi luoghi delta Citta di Roma, 
scritte da Flaminio Vacca, 1594, stampate ; Rome, 1704. 

Nibby, Antonio, Roma antica, t. I. pp. 9, 495, Bel Campidoglio dalla 
fondazione di Roma al sec. XV, Rome, 1838. 

Nibby, Antonio, Roma nelP anno M.B.CCC. XXX VIII parte 
seconda, Rome, 1841, p. 606. 
Nibby. See Vasi. 

Nodot, New Memoirs or Observations (in French), Amsterdam, 1706, 
II. 64. 

Panciroli, Ottavio, I tesori nascosti neW alma Cittct di Roma, Rome, 
1600, p. 470. 

Panciroli, Ottavio, Bescrizione di Roma antica e moderna, Rome, 
1708, t. II. p. 569, Bel Campidoglio moderno e sue descrizione. 



250 THE ROMAN CAPITOL 

Pinaroli, Giovanni Pietro, Trattato delle cose piu memorabilie di 
Roma, Rome, 1725, p. 160. 

Platner, Ernest Bunsen, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, Stuttgart, 1837, 
t. III. A. p. 97. 

Pollnitz, Memoirs of Charles Louis, Baron of, Liege, 1734, t. II. 
p. 249. 

Prospettivo Milanese. See Govi, G. 

Richardson, Ab., Travels in Italy (1720), t. VI. p. 50. 

Righetti, P., Descrizione del Campidoglio, Rome, 1 833-1 836. 

Rogissart, The Delights of Italy (in French), Leyden, 1706, II. 363. 

Rossi, Filippo de, Ritratto di Roma Moderna, Rome, 1652, p. 415. 

Stendhal, Walks in Rome (in French), dated the 8th of January, 
1828, t. I. p. 191. 

Stevenson, Enrico, Di una pianta di Roma dipinta da Taddeo di 
Bartolo, Bull. Arch. Comu., an. IX. 1881, p. 90. 

Totti, Ludovico, Ritratto di Roma moderna, Rome, 1638, p. 400. 

Vacca, Flaminio. See Nardini. 

Vasi, Itinerary of Rome (in French), composed by A. Nibby,/h?/// 
that of Vasi after the latter ) s death, Rome, t. I. p. 48. 

Venturi, A., La galleria del Campidoglio, Rome, 1890. 

Venuti, Ridolfino, Accurata e succincta descrizione di Roma moderna, 
Rome, 1766, t. II. p. 209. 

Venuti, Ridolfino, Spiegazione de bassirilievi delP urna delta di 
Alessandro Severo sul Mitseo Capitolino, Rome, 1756. 

Travels of a Frenchman hi Italy, in the years 1765 and 1766 (in 
French), Venice, 1769, t. IV. p. 248. 

New and Curious Travels in Italy (by Huguetan, Barrister to the 
Lyons Parliament), Lyons, 1681, p. 293. 

Diary of a Journey through France and Italy by a French nobleman 
in the year 1661 (in French), Paris, 1679, p. 322. 





m 

ppl 

[F J CARCER 









W/ : % \ 






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From the: 
'FORMA UKBIS ROMAE 

I.AINCIAM 



'^TT 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX 



The letter M designates the objects forming part of the Capitoline Museums, 
designates artists or artisans having worked at the Capitol. 



Art 



Abundance, statue, M, 215, note 2 
Academies, 223, 229 
Academy of the Antiquarians, 230 
Academy of the Arcadians, 230, 231, 232, 

233, 234, 238 
Academy of Drawing, 229 
Academy of the " Infecondi," 230 
Academy of the Lincei, 230 
Academy of S. Luca, 230 
Accolti (Vineenzo), 182 
Achilles. See Dish 
Acqua Felice, 153 
Acqua Marcia, 49, 146 
Acqua Marcia Castle, 146 
Adonis, statue, 209 
Aedes Thensarum, 48, 50 
Aequimelium, 51, 52 
Aesculapius, statue, 41 
Aesculapius, statue, M, 215, note 2 
Agon Capitolinus, 16 
Agriculturists (Corporation of), 169, 171 
Agrippa, bust, M, 219 
Agrippina (Funeral Urn of the first 

Agrippina), M, 197, 198, 200, 214, 

note 1 
Agrippina and Nero, group, M, 207 
Albani (Card. Alessandro), 216, 217 
Albani (Orazio), Senator, 135, 190, 193 
Alberini (Marcello).. 162, 163, 180 
Alberini (Orazio), 162, 164 
Albertini (L ), 201 
Aldrovandi, description of the Capit. 

Museums, 204 
Alexander, bust, M, 207 
Alexander, nude, statue, 209 
Alexander IV., 67 
Alexander VI., 242, note 1 
Alexander VII., 186, 187, 189, 190, 214, 

239, note 7 
Alexander VII., statue, 189 
Alexander Severus, 15 
Alexander Severus, sarcophagus, 210, 

213, note 7 
Alsina. Biagio, Art-, 224 



Amazon, statue, M, 220 

Amazon (wounded), statue, M, 220 

Amazon, supposed, statue, M, 216 

Amazons (sarcophagus of the), M ; 219 

Amadeus of Savoy, 87 

Ammianus Marcellinus, 53 

Ammon, bust, 217 

Ampere, 135 

Amulio, Cardinal, 178 

Anacletus, Antipope, 66, 75, 105, 242 

Ancus Marcius, 7, 44 

Andrea Morena de Lodi, 98 

Andrea di Normanni, Senator, 69-70 

Andreozzi (Lorenzo di Simone), 346 

Annius Verus (Palace of), 136 

Antinous, statue, M, 218 

Antipater, son of Antiochus, 11 

Antony, bust, M, 207 

Antonine the Pious, bust, 217 

Antonio of Grassis, Senator, 192 

Antonio of Pontianis, Art., 92 

Apes, M, 205 

Apollo, statu? by Calamis, 39 

Apollo, statues, M, 205, 207, 215, note 2, 

217, 221 
Apollo (so-called colossal statue of), M, 

200, 214, note 1 
Apothecaries (Corporation of the), 170 
Appius Claudius Sabinus, 10 
Aracoeli. See S. Maria Aracoeli 
Area (Lodovico), Senator, 154 
Arch of Portogallo, 214 
Arch (Triumphal) of Marcus Aurelius 

40, 202 
Arch (Triumphal), Nero, 16, 24 
Arch (Triumphal), Scipio Africanus, 19 
Arch (Triumphal), Septimus Severus, 

74, 75, 91, 101, 126, 188, 223 
Archbrotherhood S. Sanctorum. See 

Sancta Sanctorum 
Arch-Gaul, bass-relief, M, 219 
Architects having worked at the Capitol. 

See 

Balestra, Carlo 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Del Duca, Giov. 

Delia Porta 

Lunghi, Martino 

Maffei, Andrea 

Matteo di Castello 

Michael Angelo 

Rinaldi, Carlo 

Rinaldi, Girolamo 

Roverella 

Specchi, Alessandro 

Tittoni, Filippo 
Arco di Settimio (Via dell'), 7, 19, 22, 26, 

102 
Area Capitolina, 5, 9, 12, 15, 16 19, 20, 
28, 29, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 

52,107 

Aristides of Smyrna, M, 205 
Aristides of Smyrna, bust, M, 205, note 7 
Arms and escutcheons (chief ones) figur- 
ing on the walls of the Capitol: 

Bovio, Giacomo 

Cibo, Cardinal 

Estouteville (Cardinal of) 

Gualdi^ 

Porcari 

Roverella 

Tolosano, Niccolo 
Arnaud of Brescia, 67 
Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari, called the 
Chevalier of), 158, 159, 187, 190, 213, 
note 7 
Artists and Artisans having worked at 
the Capitol. See 

Alsina. Biagio 

Antonio of Pontianis 

Ascenz ) 

Baldassare 

Bartolommeo di Tommaso 

Basso of Florence 

Beltrano 

Benedetto of Pisa 

Bescape, Ruggiero 

CafTarelli, Gio. Petro 

Cencio, Jacobi Vannucii 

Corbolini, Nardo 

Cristoforo, Geremia 

Del Buffalo, Orazio 

Diana, Domenico 

Ferretti, Antonio 

Filippo, Maestro 

Firmo da Caravaggio 

Francesco 

Ghezzi 

Giannini, Domenico 

Gidone, Simone 

Giovanni Antonio of Pomis 

Giovanni da Mantova 

Guidocci, Leonardo 

Jacobo of Bologna 

Landini, Taddeo 

Laureti, Tommaso 

Ludovicus 

Lupis, Domenico de 

Macaronius, Marius 



Maes, Girolamo 

Mancini, Domenico 

Mellini 

Napolioni, Clemente 

Nello di Bartolommeo 

Nucci 

Oliviero, Paolo 

Paolo Romano 

Peracca, Antonio 

Petrus 

Pietra Santa, Lorenzo 

Pietro di Giovanni da Varese 

Pincellotti, Francesco 

Rondino, Alessandro 

Rossi 

Salviati de Anania 

Spagna, Giuseppe 

Topi, Vincenzo 

Torrone, Gio. Batta. 

Valsoldi, Giovanni Antonio 

Visco, Domenico 
Artisti, 193 

Arvales (College of the), 35, 46 
Arx, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, it, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 

19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 41, 54, 
245 

Ascenzo da Mantova, Art., 101 
Assectamentum (room of the). See 

Audience-chamber 
Astalli (Lorenzo), 208 
Asylum, 4, 6, 7, 8, 1.4, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 

20, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 36 
Athena (Pronaos of), 30 
Athenaeum, speech room, 16, 48 
Audebert_ (Nicholas), description of the 

Capitoline museums, 209, note 3 
Audience-chamber of the Senator, also 

called Hall of the Assectamentum, 

77, 78, 84, 128, 155, 183, 222 
Auguraculum, 7, 20, 22 
Augurs, 7, 14 

Augustus, 14, 15, 34, 39, 44, 46, 50 
Augustus, seated, statue, M, 215, note 2 
Augustus, bust, 217 
Augustus, statues, M, 206, 218 
Augustus (Mausoleum of the family of), 

i97_ 
Aurelia Extricata, 119, 120 
Aurelian, 15 
Ausonius, 53 

Altar, circular, M, 213, note 4 
Altar, square base on which are repre- 
sented the labours of Hercules, M, 

219 
Altar dedicated to Hercules, 200, 204 
Altar dedicated to Jupiter Sol Serapis, 

M, 219 
Altar dedicated to the Mater Magna, 

M, 221 
Altars of the Vicomagistri, M, 200 
Aventine, supposed statue of the Aven- 

tine Mount, M, 208 
Averlino (Antonio) called Filarete, 136, 

*37 



INDEX 



253 



Bacchante, statue, M, 216 
Bacchus, statue, M, 207, 215, note 2 
Bacchus, child, statue, M, 205 
Balconies of the Senatorial palace, 77, 

Baldassare, marble-cutter, Art., 92 
Balestra (Carlo), architect, 187 
Balustrade of the Square, 143, 145, 188 
Banderisi. See Bannerets 
Bannerets, 93, 94, 108, 117 
Barbarians (statues of two), 216 
Barberini (Taddeo), 188, 198, note 3 
Bartolommeo di Tommaso, Art., 92 
Basa (Domenicoj, 175, note 5, 180, t8i 
Bases (dedicatory) of the towns of Lycia, 

48 
Bases. See Altars. 
Basso of Florence, APt., 101, note 5, 103, 

notes 1 and 2 
Bass-reliefs. See 

Arch of Portogallo 
Arch-Gaul 
Endymion 
Jupiter Capitolinus 
Marcus Aurelius 
Mettius Curtius 
Mithra 

Pan and the Nymphs 
Sarcophagus of Achilles 
Sarcophagus of the Amazons 
Sarcophagus of the Four Seasons 
Beata Rita, 23 

Bell of the^ Capitol, 68, 87, 113, 187 
Bellona (Asiatic), altar of the, 47 
Beltrano, Art., 92, note 1, 101, note 1 
Belvedere of the Vatican, 202, 206 
I Bembo, Cardinal, 155, 200 

Benedetto of Pisa, Art., 141 1 note 2 
Benedict XIII., 192, 216, 227, 231, 239 
Benedict XIV., 219, 221, 224, 230 
Benedict of Sainte-More, 58 
Beneficentia (Sanctuary of the), 16, 46 _ 
Benozzo Gozzoli, fresco of San Gemi- 

gnano, 99 
Bernardino of Sienna (Fra), 118 
Bernini, 173 

Berry (representation of the Capitol in 
the Hour-book of the Duke of"). See 
Chantilly 
Bescape (Ruggiero), Art., 82, 211, 212 
Bibulus (Sepulchre of), 23 
Biondo (Flavio), 89 
Biondo (Flavio), his place of burial at 

S. Maria Aracoeli, 246, note 2 
Blado, printer, 175, note 5 
Blado, his widow, 181 
Blasio (Camillo), jailer, 163 
Bocca della Verita (Via della), 17, 52 
Boccabella (Luzio), 144 
Boccapaduli, 148, 180, 208 
Bona Fortuna, statue, 49 
Bonfilii (Benedetto) of Perugia, painter, 

156, 159 
Boniface, Antipope, 136 



Boniface VIII., 137, note 2 

Boniface IX., 69, 71, 78, 88 

Bonus Eventus, statue, 49 

Bakers (Corporation of the), 170, 17.1 

Booksellers (Corporation of the), 181 

Bootmakers (Corporation of the), 169 

170, 171 
Butchers (Corporation of the), 169 
Bovio (Giacomo), 131 
Boy and Girl, group, M, 219 
Bridge (St. Angel's), 76. See Ponte 
Brutus (L. Junius), busts, M, 206, 218, 

note 1 
Brutus (L Junius), statue, 49 
Bufala (Vicolo della), 52 
Buffalo. See Del Buffalo 
Bull-fights, 117, 118 
Bull of Louis of Bavaria. See Louis of 

Bavaria 
Buoncompagni (Giacomo), 175 
Buoncompagni (Giacomo), statue, 172 
Burchard, 174 
Busts (collection of Cardinal Albani) 

M, 217 

Caccialupi, Abbe, 220 

Caelius (Mount), 4, 21 

Caesar, 17, 34 

Caesar, colossal statue of, 206 

Caffarelli (Ascanio), director of the 

printing-house, 180 
Caffarelli (Gio. Pietro), superintendent of 

the works, 154 
Caffarelli (family), 112 
Caffarelli (palace), 4, 8, 41, 108 
Calata Comitia, 9, 12, 47 
Caligula, 16, 197 
Caligula, bust, M, 217 
Camellaria, 105, 166 
Camillus, called Zingara, statue, M, 199, 

200, 205, 214, note 1 
Campanile (bell tower), 99, 124, 126, 150, 

151, 187, 225 
Campanile (bell tower), statues, 151, 

note 1. See Clock of the Roman 

people 
Campanile of Aracoeli, 223 
Campidoglio (Piazza del), 4, 19, 23, 26, 

27, 28, 29, 82, 140-148 
Campidoglio (Via del), 19, 26, 106, 144, 

164 
Campus Martius, 3, 4, 8, 13, 17, 18, 23, 

24, 28, 35, 50, 52 
Cancellaria, 105, 166 
Capitani (room of the), 216 
Capitolina (Via), 74, 76, 142, 144, 148, 

l8 7 . 
Capitohum Vetus, 48 
Caporioni, 117, 130, 185 
Caracalla, 15 
Caracalla, bust, M, 217 
Caraffa (Cardinal Oliviero), 246 ■ 
Caravagio (paintings of the chapel by), 

??? 



254 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Career, 19 

Carmentalis (Gate), 9, 17 

Caroline Louisa, Margravine of Baden 
and Durlach, 235 

Carpenters (Corporation of the), 169 

Carpi (Cardinal of), 206 

Carrachio (Annibal), 159 

Carroccio, 70 

Cartaro (plan of), 125 

Carushomo (Senator), 106, note 1 

Casa Romuli, 47 

Casanova (Giacomo), 230 

Casella (Filippo), 212, 213 

Cassiodorus, 64 

Castor and Pollux. See Dioscuri 

Catherine II. of Russia, 234 

Catulus (Q. Lutatius), 33, 34, 38 

Cavalieri (Toramaso), 180 

Cavalli, 236 

Cavallini (Pietro), 242 

Cechino de Campello, 114, note 4 

Cedri (advocate), 236 

Cencio, Jacobi Vannucii (carpenter), 
Art, 92 

Centum Gradus (staircase of the), 15, 
18, 20, 29, 52, 66, note 3 

Cesarini (Baron), 86, 87 

Cestius (Pyramid of), 214 

Chancellor (tower called the Tower of 
the). See Torre del Mercato del 
Cancelliere 

Chantilly, Conde Museum, representa- 
tion of the Capitol, 98 

Chapel of the Palace of the Conservators, 
78, 222 

Chariots of the sun and moon, 40 

Charles of Anjou, Senator, 69, 79 

Charles of Anjou, statue, M, 200 

Charles V., 123, 127 

Chastity, statue, M, 207, 215, note 2 

Child hugging a bird, M, 218 

Child hugging a goose to his -bosom, M, 
219 

Christina, Queen of Sweden, bust and 
commemorative inscription, 196 

Churches. See San 

Cibo (Cardinal), his coat of arms, 91, 
102 

Cicero, 39 

Cicero bust, M, 213 

Ciogni (family of the Clock "moder- 
ators ") 226 

Circus Flaminius, 35 

Circus Maximus, 20, 199 

Cistern of the Palace of the Conservators, 
94, 119 

Claudius, 16, 47 

Claudius, bust, M, 207 

Claudius the Gothic, statue, 16, 50 

Clement III., 136 

Clement VII., 87 

Clement VII., statue, 173 

Clement VIII., 82, 123, 153, 154, 159 

Clement IX., 190 



Clement X., 1S7, 190 

Clement XL, 191, 216, 223 

Clement XL (portico of), 82 

Clement XII., 187, 217, 218, 219, 239 

Clement XII. , slatue, 224 

Clement XIII. , 220 

Clement XIV., 192, 225, 230, 234 

Clivus Argentarius, 17, 23 

Clivus Capitolinus, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 

19, 20, 25, 26, 29, 74 
Cloaca Maxima, 7 
Clock of the Roman People. See Bell 

of the Capitol 
Cock (Hieronymus). See Kock 
Coke (Thomas), 212 
Cola di Rienzo, 70, 77, 78, 85, 87, 100, 

135, 148, 209 
Coliseum, 61, note 1 
Coliseum (materials taken from), 164, 

188, 199, note 4, 223 
Colonna (Constable, Prince), 196 
Colonna (Mark Antony), 173, 175 
Colonna (Stefano), 87 
Colossi of the Capitol : 

Fragments, M, 200, 201, 202, 203 

Hand holding a globe, 203. Sec 
Augustus 
Commodus 
Domitian 
Nero 
Samson 
Tiberius 
Column (rostral), M, 213, note 7 
Columns of the Square, 125, 147 
Columns (Greek), 209, 216 
Comedy, statue, 207 
Comitium, to, 19 
Commodus, 15, 48, 96 
Commodus, child, bust, 217 
Commodus (colossal head, said to be 

that of), 205, 213, note 7 
See also Nero 
Concilia of the plebs, 12 
Concord (temple of), 14, 20, 22, 25, 26, 

27 
Conde Museum. See Chantilly 
Constables of the Guards, 116 
Conservators (Tribunal of the), 127 
Conservators (Palace of the). See 

Palace 
Consolazione (Hospital of the), 148 
Consolazione (Via della), 52 
Constans, son of Constantine, statue, 

M, 146, 204, 214, 219 
Constantine, 53 
Constantine, statue, 82, 146, 204, 212, 

213, note 7, 214 
Constantine (so-called equestrian 

statue), 134, 135 
Corbolini (Nardo), Art., 139, note 1 
Corbulo, 24 

Cord wainers (Corporation of). See Boot- 
makers 
Corilla Olympica, 233-238 



INDEX 



255 



Coriolanus, 10 

Cornelius (Lucius), praetor, bust, M, 

21T 
Coronation of the Popes, 117, 174 
Coronations (poetical), 82-85, 231-238 
Corporations having their tribunal in the 
Capitol. See 

Agriculturists 

Apothecaries 

Bakers 

Butchers 

Carpenters 

Cordwainers 

Dealers 

Innkeepers 

Ironmongers 

Millers 

Masons 

Notaries 

Silk (Arts of) 

Spice-Merchants 

Tailors 

Woolmongers 
Corsi (family of the), 65, 66, 76 
Corsini (Tommaso), 194 
Courtyard of the Palace of the Conserv- 
ators, 82, 96, 127, 205, 210 
Crescimbeni, 233 
Cristoforo Geremia of Mantua, Art., 

138 
Cupid, statue, 47 
Cupid and Psyche, group, M, 219 
Curia Calabra, 9, 12, 47 
Curia Innocenziana, 240 
Cynocephalus, M, 204 



Daniel of Volterra (?), 159 
Dasti (Baron Carlo), 228 
i De Brosses (President), 132, 213, note 5 
Dea Virgo Celestis (shrine of the), 23, 

241 
Dealers. See Mercanti 
Decoration of the Palaces. See Palace 
Decemvirs, 14 

Del Buffalo (Orazio), Art-, 154 
Del Cinque (Gio. Paolo), 237 
Del Duca (Giovanni), architect, 154. 
Delia Porta (Giacomo), architect, 141, 

142, 148, 150, 153, 211 
Devoti, 236 

Diana (Domenico), sculptor, Art., 171 
Diana lucifera, statue, M, 220 
Diana, statues, M, 204, 216, 218, 219 
Diana, statuettes, 217 
Dii Consentes (portico of the), 18, 25, 

26, 27 
Diocletian, 53 
Diogenes, bust, M. 217 
Dioscuri (group of the), 49, 128, 145, 184, 

212, 214, 224, 240 
Disk representing the life of Achilles, M, 

220 
Domitian, 16, 27, 29, 35, 45, 50 



Domitian (temple of Jupiter Capi- 

tolinus built by), 38, 40, 43 
Domitian (colossal head ©f), 125, 187, 

200, 214. See also Nero 
Domitius Aenobarbus, bust, M, 217 
Dosio (plan of), 125 
Drapers (Corporation of), 171 
Drovers (Corporation of the), 169 
Du Perac (Etienne), representation of 

the Capitol, 128 
Duillius (rostral column of), 213, note 7 
Dung-heap, sacred, 19 

Ediles, their office, 12, 48 

Edict of Nantes (festivities on the 

occasion of), 196 
Egidio of Toccho, 93 
Egypt. See Statues (Egyptian) 
Endymion, reposing, bass-relief, M, 216 
Endyinion, statue, M, 205, note 1 
Epicurus, bust, M, 217 
Esquilian, 6 

Este (Cardinal Luigi of), 207 
Estouteville (Cardinal Guillaume of), 72, 

102 
Estrapade or strappado, 168 
Eugenius IV., 89, 91, 160, 246 
Euripides, bust, 217 
Evelyn (John), description of the 

Capitoline Museums, 213, note 7 
Executions, 107, 108, 112-114, 166-168 

Faba Tosta (Via), 74, 75 

Fabius Maximus, statue^ 49 

Falda (Gio. Batta.), representation of 

the Capitol, 165 
Farnese (Cardinal Alexander), 205, 209 
Farnese (Cardinal Alexander), statue, 

173 
Fasti (Consular), 205, 209, 215 
Faun, statue, M, 217 
Faustina, busts, M, 207, 217 
Fazio degli Uberti, 98 
Fedeli, 104, 114, note 2, 161, 195 
Felicity (shrine of), 47 
Fenzonio (Gio. Batta.), Senator, 193 
Ferdinand I., Grand" Duke of Tuscany, 

175, note 5 
Ferdinand IV., King of the Two Sicilies, 

239 

Ferrara (Cardinal of). See Este 

Ferretti (Antonio), Art., 152, note 4, 
188, note 1 

Ferretti (Francesco) of Ancona, 89 

Festivities held in the Capitol : 
In the 14th century, 87 
In the 15th ,, 117, 118 
In the 16th ,, 174, 175 
In the 17th ,, 195, 196 
In the 18th ,, 228, 229, 230 

Ficoroni (collection of inscriptions of), 
218 

Fides (temple of), 9, 14, 16, 43, 45, 48 

Filigato, Pope, 197 



2 5 6 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



urmus, iq 

nigenia (shrine of), 9, 14 



Filarete. See A. verlino (Antonio) 
Filippo (Maestro), Art., [84, note 5, 

s 1 2, 21 1, no doubt Filippo Casella 
Filippucci (Tommaso), \ \\ 
Fines devoted to the rebuilding of the 

palaces, 1 51 1 
Fioravante, Captain of the Capitol, 162 
Fiorelli (Raffaele), clock-maker, 228 
Firmo da Caravaggio, Art., 101 
Fish-jaw, M, 2 c6 
Flamens, 14 
Flaminia ( late, [93 
Flumentana ( rate, 9 
Fondo statuario, 1 [9 
Fool in bronze supposed to be that of 

( 'est illS, 214 

Fora (Imperial). 14, 17, 

Fornix Ca" 

Fortuna Primigenia (shrine ot), 9, 14 

Foi tuna Bona. See Bona Foi tui 

Fortune, headless, statue, M, 207 

Forum, 3, 4, 7, 8, 14, 17, j8, 22, 23, 26, 

27, 65, i"i, 1 24, [28, 1 is, 1 |6, 154 
Forum Boarium, 3, 9, 13, 17, 20, 52 
Forum I [olitorium, 9, 17 
Fountain of the Capitol, [52, 153, 187, 

Fra Montreal*. See Montreale 
Francesco, Venetian marble-cutter, Art., 

92 
Francesco (Senator). See ( rualdi (family) 
Francis I., Emperor of Germany, 239 
Frangipanh 65 
Frederick [•■ Barbarossa, 68 
Frederick I L., Emperor, 70 
Frederick Augustus II., 239 
Fxieze (naval), 208, note 7 
Fuivius Flaccus. eg 
Furietti (Cardinal Alessandro), 219, 

note 1, 220 
Furius Camillus (1 ».), 20 
Furius Purpureo (!>.)> 21 
Fusconi (Adriario), 209 
Fustigation, r.6o, 161 

Gabella dello Studio or Wine 
( rabelle, [44, C49, 1:54, 178 

( ialassi (Antonio), ro 1, note 6 

( ralasso of Bologna, 92, n 5, note 1 

( raleotto (Senator). See ( Iualdi (family) 

( ralletti (Fabrizio), 180 

( lames. See Agon and 1 iudi 

Gardens of the Palace of the Con- 
servators, n 18, 184 

( rarrison oi ili<' ( lapitol, [14, 115, 11" 

( '.aii's. See Portae 

Cauls (siege of the Capitol by the), tx, 
• I 

« reese «>( the Capitol, n, 76 

( '.ccsv in bronze, M, 216 

( reese in bronze (room of the), 2x6, note 4 

Gelasius II., 65 

( remoniae. See Scalae ( iemoniae 

( '.cuius, statue, M, 207 



('.cuius Populi Romani (shrine of), 47 
Gens Julia (altar of the), 47, 49, 50 
( renseric, 53 
Germanicus, 16, 47, 48. See a/s<> 

Trophies 
( lesu ((lunch of the), 190 

( rhetto, i« 19 

( rhezzi (( riuseppe), 223 

Chez/i (I'ietro), Art., 224 

Ghislerio (Innocenzo), clock-maker, 226 

Giacomo da Pietra Santa. See Pietra 

Santa 

Giannini (Domenico), carpenter, Art., 

,. 22 4 

Gibbet. See Monte Caprino 
Gidone (Simone). Art., 224 
Giovanni Antonio of Pomis, architect, 

Art., 185 
Giovanni da Ferrara, Constable, 1 16 
Giovanni da Mantova, Art., toi 
Giovanni Del Duca. See Del Duca 
( riovanni of I <eono (Senator), 114, note 5 
Girl holding bird, M, 207 
Girl, statue, M, 219. See Boy and Girl 
( riudea (Piazza), [09, 168 
( riulia. See Marciana 
( riuliano da Aquila, 116 
( riulio Romano (Via), 2 ; 
Gladiator (Dying), M, 218 
Goldsmiths (Corporation of the), mi 

( rtadus Monetae, 18, 19 

( Gregory VII., 65 

Gregory XI 11., 69, 109, 145, 149, 151, 

155, r8i, 205, 209, 246 

Gregory XIII., statue, 172 

( livnory XIV., 174 

( Gregory XV., 184, 190 

Gregory XVI., 166, T87, 204, note 7 

( Iualdi (family), 129, 130 

Guardian of the statue of Leo X., 172 
Guardian or Keeper of Constantine's 

horse, 140 

Guards (room of the), 92, 114, 115, 

note; 1 
Guido of Montefeltro (Vice-Senator), 90 
Guidocci (Leonardo), Art., 139, note 1 

( rllidone di Pilo (Senator), 76 

Gulielmo Standardo (Vice-Senator), 79 
Hadrian. 15, 16, 48 

Hadrian, bass-relief, M, 2x4, note 3 

I ladrian, busts, 217 

Hadrian, child, statue, M, 203 

Hadrian, sacrificing, M, 208 

Hadrian, under the features of Mais, 

'-•'7. 

Hadrian, another statue, 215, note 2 

Hadrian, (head of), M, 20* 

Hagiopolite (the), 60 

I [arpocrates, statue, M, ■ cq 

Hi-ads (colossal) of the Capitol. Set 

Colossi 
1 lei ate (sin ine of), 23 
I locate, with three faces, M, 220 



INDEX 



>57 



I Icemskerck (Marten Van), representa- 
tions of the Capitol, 89, note 2, 94, 
100, no, 124, note t, 147 

I lemp-dressers on Mount Caprino, 109 

Henri IV., King of France, his abjura- 
tion, 196, note 4 

Henry IV., Emperor, 65 

Henry of Castille (Senator), 90 

Hercules, child, bust, M, 217 

Hercules, gilded statue, M, 199, 200, 204, 
209, 215 

Hercules, killing the Hydra, M, 218 

Hercules, (room called room of), 213 

Hercules, statue, M, 208, and note 6 

Hercules, statues, 49 

Hercules, votive altar, M, 200, 204, 219 

Herdonius, 10, 13 

Heretics, 16 ■ 

Heweston (Christopher), 236 

Homer, bust, M, 217 

Horatius Pulvillus, M, 11, 32, 33 

Horse and Lion, group, M, 80, 81, 82, 
197, 204, 212, 213, note 7 

Hospice (S. Giovanni). See Sancta 
Sanctorum 

Houses (private) on the ancient Capitol, 
*3j i4, i5> 17, i9> 2 3, 27, 28, 51, 52 

Hunter (Polytimus), statue, M, 217 

Hygeia, statue, 49 

Hygeia, statue, M, 220 



Immortality, statue. M, 215, note 2 

Infessura, 72, 113 

Innkeepers (Corporation of the), 169, 

170, 171 
Innocent II I., 109 
Innocent IV., 67, 242 
Innocent VII., 88, 107 
Innocent VIII., 73, 102, 109, 116, i2">, 

200 
Innocent X., 155, 185, 186, 190 
Innocent X., statue, 189 
Innocent XII., T30, T48 
Innocent XII., statue, 189 
Innocent XIII., 191, 228 
Ironmongers (Corporation of the), 169 
Isis, statue, M, 216, 219 
Isis (priestess of), statue, M, 219 
Isis Capitolina (altar of), 47 

Jacoi;<> of Bologna, mason, Art., 141, 

note 2 
Jacques of Voragine, 59, note 3 
Japanese Ambasssadors, 175 
Jean d'Outremeuse, 57, note 4, 59, 62 
Jews (community of the), 144 
Johannes of Mantova. See Giovanni da 

Mantova 
Joseph L, Emperor, 230 
Jubilee of 1300, 76 
Julius II.. 1 jo 
Julius III., 143, 224 
Liber, statue, 49 



Julia (wife to Septimus Severus), bust, 

M, 217 
Julia Mamea, sarcophagus, M, 210 
Julia Mesa, bust, 217 
Juno Moneta (temple of), 14, 20, 64, 

241 
Juno Sospita, M, 215, note 2 
Juno (ceila of), 9, 36 
Juno, statue, M, 216 
Juno, statue, 38, 40, 41. Sec aLo Dea 

Virgo Celestis 
Jupiter (cella of), 39 
Jupiter (myth of), 220 
Jupiter (sacrifice offered to), 12 
Jupiter (statues of), 38, 39, 49 
Jupiter (statues), M, 128, 215, note >, 

217, 219 
Jupiter Africus (statue). 49, 50 
Jupiter Capitolinus (bass-relief repre- 
senting a sacrifice to), 202 
Jupiter Capitolinus (temple of). 5, 9, ir, 

12, 14, 15, 16, 20, 25, 28, 29-43, 44, 45, 

5i, 54, 64 
Jupiter Conservator (temple of), 16,29, 

44. 45, 64 
Jupiter Custos (temple of). See Jupiter 

Conservator 
Jupiter Feretrius (temple of), 6, 7, 9. 14, 

15, 44, 46, 64 
Jupiter Pistor (altar of), 47 
Jupiter Sabazius (shrine of), 23 
Jupiter Sol Serapis (altar of), 219 
Jupiter Soter (shrine of), 16, 47 
Jupiter Summanus (temple of), 36 
Jupiter Tonans (temple of), 16, 44, 49 
Jupiter Victor (shrine of), 47 
Juventas (shrine of), 7, 30, ^7 

Kasimire (Queen Maria), 191, 196 

Kent, English architect, 212 
Lock (Hieronymus), representation of 
the Capitol, 94, 96, 100, 124, note t, 126 

L/AFRERI, representation of the CapitoJ, 

96, 126 
Landini (Taddeo), sculptor, Art., 156, 

l l 2 
Latino (( ardinal), 72 
Latino Juvenal, 204 

Lateran, 131, 136, 139, 159, 174, 192, 

208, 219 
Laurenzio di Pictra Santa. See Pietra 

Santa 
Laureti (Tommaso), Art., 156, 157, 159, 

213, note 7 
Legends relative to the Capitol, 5, 58 
Legends relative to the statue of Marcus 

Aurelius, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136 
Lelio da Ceri, 179 
Lello Capocci, 77, note 5 
Leo X., 167, 174, 202, 246 
Leo X., statue, 171 
Leo XI., 190 
Lex Regia, inscription, 209 

s 



5 5 S 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Library, 127 

Library (French National), representa- 
tion of the Capitol, 98 

Library (Vatican), representation of the 
Capitol, 67, 68, 98 

Lici, Fabio (plan of), 125 

Lion (marble) of the Capitol group. See 
Horse and Lion 

Lions of the Capitol, alive and painted 
or sculptured, 79-82 

Lippi (Annibale), architect, 750 

Lippi (Filippo), 139 

Livia, 47 

Locus Saeptus, 24, 27 

Loggia, 69, 113, 124, 126, 149, 240 

Lorenzo. See Pietra Santa (Lorenzo of) 

Loto, 239. 240 

Louis of Bavaria, 76, note 4, 80^87, 97 

Louis or Luigi di Gonzaga (Prince), 
236 _ 

Luci (inter duos Lucos), 23 

Lucilla, bust, M, 220 \ 

Lucilla, statue, M, 217 

Lucina (Via), 214 

Lucius II., 68 

Lucius Verus, bust, 217 

Lucullus, 39 

Ludi Capitolini, 13 

Ludi Romani, 12 

Ludovicus, Florentine workman, Apt. , 

22 5 
Ludovisi (villa), 218 
Lunghi (Martino), architect, 142, 150 
Lupis (Domenico di Bartolommeo of) 

Art, 212 



Macaronius (Marius), superintendent 

of works, 141 note 2 
Madonna of the Capitol, 92, 155 
Maes (Girolamo), glazier, Art., 224 
Maestri di Strada, 142, 144, 172 
Maffei (family), 108 
Magalotti, Governor of Rome, 86 
Maggi (Andrea), architect, 223 
Magistri stratarum. See Maestri di 

Strada 
Mamea, sarcophagus, M, 210, 213, note 

7, 216 
Mancini (Domenico), Art., 152, note 4 
Manlius (L.), 21 
Manlius Capitolinus, 12, 13, 20 
Mantua (Museum of), plan of Rome, 

100 
Manutius (Aldus), 175 
Manutius (Paul), T.75, 178, 179, 180, t8i 
Marcello. See Augustus, statue 
Marcellus (theatre of), 17 
Marcia (Aqua). See Acqua Marcia 
Marciana or Plotina or Giulia, statue, 

M, 220 
Marcucci (plan of), 126 
Marcus Aurelius, 15, 16 
Marcus Aurelius (Arch of), 40, 202 



Marcus Aurelius (bass-relief representing 
life of), M, 140, note 6, 202, 212 

Marcus Aurelius, bust, M, 216, 217 

Marcus Aurelius, statue, M, 210, 218 

Marcus Aurelius, equestrian statue, 80, 
129, 131-140 

Marescalchi, 117 

Marforio, statue, M, 82, note 2, 187, 210, 
213, note 7 

Marforio (Via di), 23 

Maria Amelia, Duchess of Parma, 239 

Maria Antoinette Walpurgis of Bavaria, 
2 39 

Maria Caroline, Queen of the Two 
Sicilies, 239 

Maria Christina of Saxony, 239 

Maria Kasimire. See Kasimire 

Maria Theresa of Austria, 234 

Marius, 48 

Marius, statue, M, 214, note 1, 215, 
note 2 

Marius, another statue, M, 218 

Marius, trophies. See Trophies 

Mark Antony. See Colonna (Mark An- 
tony) 

Market, 70-75 

Marmorata, port, 104 

Mars, shrine, 7 

Mars, statue, M, 40, 49 

Mars, statuette, M, 218 

Mars Ultor (temple of), 16, 46 

Mars and Venus, group, M, 220 

Martin V., 89, 91, 100 

Martin V., (tower called Tower of), 129 

Martin Polonois, 58, note 1, 62 

Marzi(Abbe), 236 

Masks. See Pan Silenus 

Masons (Corporation of the), 170 

Massei (Baldo) of Camerino, 193 

Massimi (Cardinal), 208, note 6 

Mater Magna (altar of), 221 

Mattei (Alessandro), 246 

Mattei (Ciriaco), 147 

Mattei di Castello, architect, 153 

Maximilian of Saxony, 239 

Measures of oil, wine, corn. See Stand- 
ard 

Medici (Cardinal Alessandro of), 208. 
See also Ferdinand I. of Tuscany 

Medici (Giuliano and Lorenzo of), 174 

Medici (Villa), 208 

Mellini (Gaspero), Apt., 188, note 1 

Mens (temple of), 14, 45 

Mercanti (Corporation of the), 169 

Metellus, statue, 46 

Mettius Curtius (bass-relief of), M, 205 

Michael Angelo, 80, 123, 127, 128, J29, 
139, 148, 149, 150, 154, 165, 183, 210, 
224 

Milestones, 146 

Millers (Corporation of the), 118 

Milo (house of), 19 

Minerva, 34 

Minerva, cella of, 9, 36 



INDEX 



259 



Minerva (church of), 139 

Minerva, head, M, 213, note 7 

Minerva (place called " Ad Minervam"), 

Minerva, statue, 38, 39, 40 

Minerva, statue, M, 217. See also Rome 

(statue of) 
Mint of the Capitol, 21 
Mint (workshops of the), T4, 20, 21 
Minucia (portico), 17,52 
Mirror (Castle), 62 
Mithra (shrine of), 23 
Mithra, (the Mythriac bass-relief), 199, 

note 1 
Mithridates, 14, 39 
Monte Caprino, 70, 75, 82, 106, 109, no, 

ii2, 124, 143, 167, 204, 224 
Monte Caprino (gibbet of the), 98, 109, 

166 
Monte Cavallo, 193 
Monte del Grano, 210 
Montefeltro (Guiclo of), 90 
Monte Tarpeio (Via di), 19, 29, 41 
Montreale (Fra), 107. 112 
Morelli Fernandez (Maria Madeleine). 

See Corilla Olympica 
Mosaic of the Aracoeli Church, 242 
Mosaic of the Doves, 220 
Mosaics of the Capitoline Museums, M, 

219 
Mosaics of the temple of Jupiter Capi- 

tolinus, 36 
Muflfel (Nicholas), of Nuremberg, 134 
Muse, statue, M, 207 
Museums (Capitoline), 93, 197-221 
Museums (Capitoline), galleries of pic- 
tures, 221 
Museum, Egyptian (Vatican), 204, 

note 7 
Mutio Muto, 141, note 2 
Muzio (palace), 142 
Myth of Jupiter, M, 220 



Napolioni (Clemente Btakchi), Art., 
224 

Nardini, 234, 236 

Nardo di Bartolommeo, 104, note 6 

Navona (Piazza), 72, 210 

Nello di Bartolommeo, Art., 92 

Nemesis (altar of), 47 

Neptune with a sleeping dolphin, M, 
207 

Nero, 15, 16, 24 

Nero (Arch of), ^6, 24 

Nero, junior (colossal head of), M, 94, 
96, 199 205, 212, 2J3, note 7. Seen/so 
Domitian and Commodus 

Nero (trophies of), 24 

Nero Caesar, M, 197, 198 

New palace. See Palace of the Con- 
servators 

Niccolo Tolosano, 130 

Nicholas V., 91, 92, 94, 99, 101, 124 



Nicholas di Thiano, Senator, 88 
Xile, allegorical figure, 125, note 1 
Niobide, statue, M, 218 
Notaries (Corporation of), 170 
Nucci, Art., decorator of the chapel, 

222 
Numa, 9, 45 
Nymph on a dolphin, M, 207 

OiiELiSK, 125, 146, 246 

Ol iviero (Paolo), sculptor, Art., 172 

Ops (temple of), 14, 32, 45, 46 

Orsini (Fulvio), 211, 212 

Orsini (Napoleone), 87 

Orsini (Virginio), 173 

Ottoboni (Cardinal Pietro), 220 



Painters (Corporation of the), 144 
Palace of the Conservators, 41, 82 
In the 15th century, 93-96, 169 
In the 16th ,, 123, 124, 125, 

126, 127, 128, 149, 154 
In the 17th century, 184 
In the i°th ,, 222 
Interior decoration, 155-159, 184, 

185, 186, 187 
(new palace), 128, 154, 170, 184, 190, 

191, 192, 215, 229 
Palace (Senatorial) : 

In the 14th century, 76-79 
In the 15th ,, 88-93 

In the 16th ,, 123, 144, 146, 

i49> i53 
In the i?th ,, 222, 223, 224 
Palatine, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 22, 52 
Palm-tree of the Capitol, 125 
Paloni (Silvestro), 160 
Pan, bust, M, 217 
Pan, mask, M, 220 
Pan, statue, M, 204, 214, note 1 
Pan and the Nymphs, bass-relief, M, 217 
Pandana Gate, 5, 7, 29, 50 
Pantheon, 61, 127 
Paolo di Mariano de Sezze. See Paolo 

Romano 
Paolo Romano, Art-, 92 
Parliaments of the People, 68, 78 
Parrhasius, 39 
Paschalis II., 65 
Patarine Bell, 68, 87 
Paul II., 92, 101, 137, 138 
Paul III., 130, 142, 143, 204, 205 
Paul III., statue, 172 
Paul IV., 175, 246 
Paul IV., statue, 172, 173 
Paul V., 153, note 2, 155, 184, 190 
Peace (so-called temple of), 96 
Pedacchia (family of "moderators"' of 

the Clock), 226 
Pedestals, M, 214 
Pelicano (Giovanni), Senator, 192 
Perac. See Du Perac (Etienne) 
Peracca (Antonio), sculptor, Art., 212 



260 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Perfetti (Chevalier), 85 

Perfetti (Bernardino), 231-233, 237 

Performances (theatrical), 174, 195 

Perugino, 159 

Perugino (school of), 224 

Petilius Capitolinus,.38 

Peto Luca, jurisconsult, 181 

Petrarch, 82, 83, 84, 85 

Petra Sancta. See Pietra Santa 

Petroni, 236 

Petrus, Milanese, master founder, 

Art., 225 
Piazza del Campidoglio. See Campi- 

doglio 
Pictures (Museum of). See Museums 

(Capitoline) 
Pietra (Piazza di), 214 
Pietra Santa (Giacomo da), Art., 101 
Pietra Santa (Lorenzo da), Art., 101 
Pietro, Prefect of Rome, 136 
Pietro di Giovanni da Varese, Art., 92, 

101 
Pietro di Stefano, Senator, 69 
Pighini (Marchioness, Francesca), 210 
Pinardo (plan of), 125 
Pincellotti (Francesco), Art., 224 
Pindar, bust, M, 217 
Pinturicchio, 222 
Pitorides, bust, M, 217 
Pius II. j 92, 115 
Pius IV., 129, 143, 145, 149, 205, 206, 

242. 246 
Pius V., 149, 175, 206 
Pius VI., 225 
Pius VII., 194, 221, 228 
Pizzi (Abbe Gioacchin), 236, 237, 238 
Plan of Rome (Forma Urbis), 219 
Plans. See Representations of the 

Capitol 
Plato, bust, M, 217 
Pleydenwulff, representation of the 

Capitol, 100 
Plotina. See Marciana 
Poggio, 100, 134, 197, note 2 
Poggio (Galeazzo), Senator, 149 
Pollux. See Dioscuri 
Polyphemus, M, 207, 215, note 2 
Polytimus. See Hunter 
Pompey, 39 
Ponte Santa-Maria or Ponte Rotto, 142, 

note 1, 205 
Pontiffs, 14 
Popes at the Capitol. See Visits of the 

Popes 
Popes to whom statues were raised in 

the Capitol. See 
Alexander VII. 
Clement VII. 
Gregory XIII. 
Innocent X. 
Innocent XII. 
-Paul III. 
Paul I V. 
Sixtus V 



Urban VII. 

Urban VIII. - 
Poppaea, bust, M, 217 
Porcari (coat of arms of), 102 
Porcari (Stefano), 109 
Porta. See Delia Porta 
Portae or Gates, 149. See 

Carmen talis 

Flaminia 

Flumentana 

Pandana 

Ratumena 

Salara 

Sixtus IV. 

Stercoraria 

Tabularium 
Portico, situated to the south of the 

Minucian Portico, 52 
Portico. See also 

Dii Consentes 

Minucia 

Vignola 
Portions ad Nationes, 60 
Portogallo. See Arch of Portogallo 
Porzionari, 141 
Postumius Albinus, 19 
Priestess of Isi^, bust, M, 219 
Printing-house of the People, 175-182 
Prison (Mamertine\ 74 
Prisoner (Dacian), M, 218 
Prisons, 106-107, 160-166. See also 

Windows 
Proserpine, M, 217, note 1 
Prospettivo, 81, 200 
Psyche, statue, M, 220 
Publicola, 32 

Puri de Marchis (Carlo), 237 
Puteal, M, 217 

Quadriga, of the temple of Jupiter 

Capitolinus, 31, 36. 38 
Quintus Erennius, bust, M, 217 
Quirinal, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 17, 48, 129, 207 
Quirinus (temple of), 78, 246 

Raimondi (Gio. Batta.), printer, 175, 
note 5 
. Ramses III., statue of his mother, M, 
216 
Ratumena Gate, 8, 32 
Redi (representation of the Capitol ot 
Alessandro Strozzi, called Plan of), 
100 
Representations of the Capitol : 
In the 1 2th century, 68 
In the 13th 



In the 14th ,, 
In the 15th ,, 
In the 16th ,, 
See 

Benozzo Gozzoli 

Cartolo 

Chantilly 



97 

76, 96, 97 

96, 99, 100 

120, note 1 



INDEX 



261 



Dosio 

Du Perac 

Falda 

Heemskerck 

Kock _ 

Lafreri 

Lici 

Mantua 

Marcucci 

National Library (French) 

Pinardo 

Pleydenwulff 

Redi 

Sadler 

Sienna 

Taddeo di Bartolo 

Wolgemut 

Wyngaerde 
Representations (allegorical) painted on 

the walls of the Capitol, 85-87 
Ricci (Cardinal Giovanni), 208 
Rienzo. See Cola di Rienzo 
Rinaldi (Carlo), architect, 186 
Rinaldi (Girolamo), 154 
Ripanda (Giacomo), painter, 155 
River-gods (allegoric representations), 

125, 203, 215, 225 
River-gods, another representation, M, 

207 
Robert, King of Naples, 83, 87 
Robert I., Duke, of Normandy, 135 
Robert da Lecce, 118 
Rock (Tarpeian). See Tarpeian 
Rome (statue of), under the figure of 

Minerva, 152, 205, 206, note 7 
Romulus, 5, 6, 7, 24, 44 47 
Ronciono (Francesco), 208 
Rondino (Alessandro), Art-, 212 
Roof of the Palace of the Conservators, 

149, 171 
Ruof of the Senatorial palace, 144, 149 
Rooms of the Capitol. See 

Capitani 

Geese 

Guardians 

Hercules 
Rope-makers, 109 
Rossi, mason, 183 
Rossi (Lodovico), Art., 186 
Rostral Column. See Column 
Roverella (Lorenzo), 102 
Ruccellai (Bernardo), 8q 
Rufini (Alessandro), Bishop, 205 

Sabina, bust, M, 217 

Sabines, 6, 9, 30 

Sabinus, 15, 19, 29 

Sacra (Via), 8, 9, 12, 18 

Sacripante (Carlo Maria), 239 

Sadler (representation of the Capitol of), 

IOT 

Saffi (Antonio), 16.0 

Salara Gate, 216 

Salara Vecchia (Via), 104 



Saliceti, Doctor, 236 

Salt-repository of the Tabularium, 

100-105 
Salvatio civium, 58 
Salviati (Alfonso) of Anania, Art., 103, 

note 2 
Samson (fragment of a colossal), statue, 

M, 199 
San Beata Rita, 23 
S. Biagio in Mercatello, 71 
S. Giovanni Decollato, brotherhood, 

l6 7. 
S. Giovanni, hospital. See Sancta 

Sanctorum 
S. Giovanni in Mercatello, now called 

S. Venanzio of Camerinesi, 71, 74 
S. Lorenzo, outside the walls, 208, note 7 
S. Maria degli Angeli (Chartreuse of), 

216 
S. Maria Aracoeli, 4. 28, 70, 73, 78, 82, 

87, 89, 90, 91, 92, ior, 104, 107, 125, 

126, 128, 129, 143, 144, 154, 172, 183, 

204, 214, 223, 225, 228, 241-246. See 

S. Maria in Capitolio 
S. Maria of Curte, 74 
S. Maria dei Monti, 147 
S. Maria della Consolazione, 75, 112 
S. Maria in Capitolio. 64, 65, 66. See 

also S. Maria Aracoeli 
S. Maria sopra Minerva, 143 
S. Martina, 202 
S. Nicola de Funariis, now called S. 

Orsola a Tor de' Specchi, 75 
SS. Sergio e Baccho, 75 
S. Stefano del Cacco, 204 
S. Stefano Rotondo, 208, note 8 
Sancta Sanctorum, hospital, 112, 164, 

169 
Sanctis (Giovanni of), clockmaker. 227 
Santafiora (Count di), statue, 173 
Sappho, bust, M, 217 
Sarcophagus of Achilles and of Pen- 

thesilea, M, 202 
Sarcophagus of Alexander Severus, M, 

210, 213, note 7, 216 
Sarcophagus of the Amazons, M, 219 
Sarcophagus of Aurelia Extricata, 119 
Sarcophagus of the Four Seasons, M, 

201 . 
Saturn, 4 
Saturn, altar, 5 
Saturn (temple of), 18, 75 
Saturnia, colony, 4, 5, 6 
Satyr, in marble tied to a tree, M, 205 
Sat}-r, in red marble, M. 219 
Satyr, reposing, M, 220 
Satyr, statue, M, 205, note 3 
Savelli (Giacomo), 87 
Savelli (Orazio), 146 
Scalae Gemoniae, 18, 19, 25, 26. See 

also Gradus 
Schedel, 100 
Sciarra (palace), 149 
Scipio Africanus, 19 



l()2 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Scipio AfricanuSj busts, M, 210, 216 
Segni (Giulio Cesare), Senator, 192 
Sejanus, 19 

Senate, 11,13, 15, 45, et passim 
Senator. Sec Taking-possession and 

Throne 
Seneca, bust, M, 217 
Septimus Severus, bust, M, 217. Sec 

also Arch (Triumphal) 
Sepulchre of Bibulus. See Bibulus 
Serapis (altar of), 47 
Sergius III., 136, note 2 
Servius Tullius (enclosure of), 8, 9, 11, 

14, 17, 22, 28 
Sesi, 217 

Sesostris. See Ramses III. 
Severus, Alexander. See Alexander 

Severus 
Sforza-Cesarini, 219 
Sforza (Costanza), 172 
Sibyl, 242, 244 
Sienna (representation at Sienna of the 

Capitol by Taddeo di Bartolo), 94, 98, 

108 
Sigismund, Emperor, 114 
Silenus (mask of), M, 218 
Silk (Corporation of the Arts of), 170 
Siloes of Mount Caprino, no, in, 112 
SixtusIV., 93, 94, 101, 102, 117, 125, 137, 

138, 139, 199 
Sixtus IV. (Gate of), 102 
Sixtus V., 152, 155, 157, 165, 174, 181, 

207, 209 
Sixtus, V. (statue of), 157, 172 
Socrates, bust, M, 216 
Spagna (Giuseppe), founder, Art., 140 
Specchi (Alessandro), architect, 215, 

note 7 
Sphinx, M, 204 

Sphinxes or Lions of basalt, 143, 190 
Spice-merchants (Corporation of the), 

169, 170 
Spinelli (Cardinal), 220 
Spolia Opima, 6 
Spurius Carvilius, statue, 49 
Spurius Maelius (house of), 51 
Squarcialupi (Pietro), Senator, 126 
Square of the Capitol. See Campidoglio 

(Paizza del) 
Staircase (grand), 224 
Staircase, grand staircase leading to the 

Aracoeli Square, 142, 145, 148, 174, 204, 

215, note 2, 225 
Staircase inside the Senatorial palace, 

2 ?3 
Staircase leading to the prisons, 182 
Staircase of the church of S. Maria 

Aracoeli, 23, 148, 245 
Staircase outside the Palace, 77, 80, 97, 

124, 126, 151, 152, 225 
Standards of measure, 198 
Stasi (family), 220 
Statue _ (equestrian). See Marcus 

Aurelius 



Statue of the Roman people (Minerva). 
See Rome (statue of) 

Statues (Egyptian), M, 216, 219 

Statues (Honorific) : 

In the 16th century, 171-173 
In the 17th ,, 188-190 

Statutes of 1363, 90 

Stercoraria Gate, 19 

Stilicho, 53, 64 

Stripling, statue, M, 220 

Strozzi (Alessandro). See Redi 

Subura. 6 

Sundial, M, 220 

Surdis (family of the), no 

Sweden (Queen of). See Christina 

Sylla, 14, 33 

Tablet (Iliac), 221 

Tabularium, 14, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 
53, 65, 74, 76, 93, 100-105, 154, 166, 
223 
Tacitus, Emperor, 50 
Taddeo di Bartolo. See Sienna 
Tailors (Corporation of the), 170 
Taking-possession of the Capitol by the 

Senators, 192-195 
Tarpeian, MonsTarpeius, 4, 5, 30. See 

Monte Caprino 
Tarpeian Rock, 6, 7, 12, 29, 45, 50, 107 
Tarquin the Elder, 7, 8, 9, 18, 29, 31 
Tarquin the Proud, 9, 31 
Tarquins, 5, 7, 8, 33, 35 
Tartaglia di Fuligno, 116 
Tasso, 85 

Temples and shrines erected on the 
Capitol. See 

Bellona (Asiatic) 

Beneficentia 

Concord 

Dea Virgo Celestis 

Felicitas 

Fides 

Fortuna Primigenia 

Genius Populi Romani 

Gens Julia 

Juno Moneta 

Jupiter Capitolinus 

Jupiter Conservator 

Jupiter Custos 

Jupiter Feretrius 

Jupiter Pistor 

Jupiter Sabaziiis 

"Jupiter Summanus 

Jupiter Tonans 

Jupiter Victor 

Juventas 

'Mars 

Mars Ultor 

Mens 

Mithra 

Nemesis 

Ops 

Saturn 

Serapis 



INfiEX 



263 



lerminus 
Valetudo 
Venus Erycina 
Venus Victrix 

Vesta 
Terminus, shrine, 7, 30, 37 
Testa (Abbe), 236 
Testaccio (Mount), 117 
Tetricus, 15 
Thalia, muse, statues, M, 207, note 1, 

214, note 1, 218 
Theon of Smyrna, M, 217 
Theseus, statue, 39 
Thorwaldsen, 140 
Thorn-drawer, M, 199, 200, 203, 205, 214, 

note 1, 218, note 1 
Throne of the Senator, 155 
Tiber, 9, 18, 29, 52 
Tiber, allegorical figure, 125, note i,.i28, 

203, 215 
Tiber, statue, 41 
Tiberius (colossal statue, said to be of), 

M, 207 
Tiberius, bust, M. 207 
Tiberius, another bust, M, 217 
Tiberius Gracchus, 12 
Tiburzio, 116 

Tittoni (Filippo), architect, 188 
Titus, 15, 16, 35 
Titus Quinctius Capitolinus, 10 
Titus Statilius Aper (tombstone of), M, 
• 220 

Titus Tatius, 5, 6, 7, 30, 44 
Tivoli, 68, 118 
Topi (Vincenzo), Art., 212 
Tor de' Specchi (Monastery), 74 
Tor de' Specchi (Via), 28, 142 
Torre del Mercato del Cancelliere, 71, 

72, 73 
Torre di Nona, 114, note r, 168 
Torrone (Gio. Batta.), Art-, 214 
Tower of the Chancellor. See Torre del 

Mercato del Cancelliere 
Towers of Boniface IX., 78, 91, 124, 

154 
Towers of Martin V., 89, 129-131 
Towers of Nicholas V., 91, 99, 100, 101, 

103, 154, 188 
Towers of the Capitol, 98, 123, 128, 154 
Tozo (Francesco di), 161 
Trajan, 3, 15, 18, 41, 50 
Trajan, colossal head, 212. See Nero 
Trajan, statue, 41 
Trajan Ulpius, consul, bust, M, 216 
Trajan's Column, 18, 146 
Tree of Liberty, 228, 229 
Tre Pile (Via delle), 8, 28, 148 
Trevi (Fountain of), 176 
Tribunals (Consular), 168-171 
Triumphs at the Capitol, 12, 13, 15 
Trophies of Germanicus, 48, 50 
Trophies of Marius, 48, 146 
Trophies of Nero, 24 
Twins. See Wolf 



Ulpian Trajan. See Trajan Ulpius 

Urania, muse, M, 214, note 1 

Urban VII., statue, 173 

Urban VIII., 104, 164, 185, 190, 198, 

note 3 
Urban VIII., statue, 1S6, 189 
Urns (funeral) of Agrippina and Nero 

Caesar, M, 197, 198, 200, 214, note 1 



Valadiek, 140 

Valerius Publicola (L.), n 

Valetudo (shrine of), 47 

Valsoldi (Giovanni Antonio), Art., 145, 

212 
Veii (artists of), 31, 37 
Vejovis (temples of), 14, 20, 21, 24, 27 
Velabrum, 3, 4, 7, 17 
Vellis (Gio. Batta. and Giacomo of). 

hemp-dressers, no 
Venetian Ambassadors, 202 
Venus asleep, 207 
Venus Capitolina (shrine of), 47 
Venus of the Capitol, M, 219 
Venus Erycina (temple of), 14, 46 
Venus Victrix (shrine of), 47 
Verospi (statues found in the gardens), 

216 
Vervain (sacred), 22 
Vespasian, 15, 16, 18, 25, 27, 34, 35, 38, 

40, 96 
Vespasian, bust, M, 217 
Vespasian (tribunal of), 50 
Vesta, statue, 41 
Vesta (temple of), 19 
Vestals, 34 
Via. See 

Arco di Settimio 

Bocca della Verita 

Capitolina 

Consolazione 

Faba Tosta 

Giutio Romano 

Lucina 

Marfurio 

Monte Tarpeio 

Sacra 

Saiara Vecchia 

Tor de' Specchi 

Tre Pile 
Vico (Prefect of); 86 
Vicolo della Bufala. See Bufala 
Vic "magistri (altars of), M, 200 
Victor Emmanuel (m nument of), 22 
Vicus Jugarius, tS, 51 
Vicus Tuscus, 18 
Vignola (portico of), 143, 246 
Villain (legend of the great), 133 
Villa of Hadrian (statues coming from 

the), 219, 220 
Violante (Yolandc), Grand Duchess of 

Tuscany, 231 
Virgil, bust, 209. note 3 
Virgil, legend, 58, 62 



264 



THE ROMAN CAPITOL 



Virgin (representations of the), 92, 155, 

222, 224, 245, 246 
Visco (Domenico), ironworker, Art., 

224 
Visits of the Popes to the Capitol, 174, 

186, 187, 190, 191, 192 
Vitelleschi (Cardinal), 114 
Vitellius, 15, 19, 29, 34, 44 
Vitellius, bust, M, 217 
Vitellozo Vitelli (Cardinal), 178 

Wace, Roman de Ron, 135 

Ways leading to the Capitol, 17, 109,.. 
142, 143, 148^ 187 

Wenceslaus, King of Naples, 88 

William, the clerk, 59, 61, note 1 

Window (central) of the Palace of the 
Conservators, 154 

Window from which the Senator wit- 
nessed executions, 88, 108, 124 

Windows of the Palace, 92, 124, 126, 128, 
154, 184 



Windows of the prisons, 164, 165 

Wolf alive, in a cage, 148 

Wolf and the Twins, 38, 49 

Wolf and the Twins, present statue, M, 

96, 125, 199, 204, 205, 209 
Wolgemut (Michael), representation of 

the Capitol, 100 
Woolmongers (Corporation of the), 170, 

171 
Woman carrying a vase, M, 220 
Woman, colossal statue, M, 218 
Woman in bronze, M, 205 
Woman, old drunken, M, 220 
Woman, old, in a recoiling attitude, 

M, 207 
Woman robed, sitting, M, 205 
Wyngaerde, representation of the Capitol 

124, note 1 

Zeno (so-called statue), M, 220 

Zenobia, 15 

Zingara. See Camillus 




H 73 79 






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